THE 

SCHOOL INTERESTS 

OF ELIZABETH 





Class. 



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pr<i-:sr-:xTi:ii by 



THE 

SCHOOL INTERESTS 

OF ELIZABETH 



cA CITY OF 
NEW JERSEY 



A. D. 1664—1910 



BY 

BUAS D. SMITH 
A Former Superintendent 



ELIZABETH, N. J. 
1911 



.'^^^- 






out 

Author 
OCT 24 fsi;^ 



AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

It was my good fortune during the centennial year of 
our country's progress to occupy the responsible position 
of Superintendent of Public Schools of our city, and in this 
capacity to furnish a condensed history of them, as a part 
of The School Exhibit of the state at the Philadelphia Ex- 
position. ' i 

I have thought that the material was worthy of preserva- 
tion in printed form. Having brought the history, down to 
present date, I trust that it will be acceptable to my many 
friends, especially to those who have assisted in the work by 
furnishing data, and to whom I owe much. 

To these friends these annals are respectfully dedicated. 



SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS. 

Township. 

Under act of Legislature of April 17, 1846. 

William F. Day from 1847 to 1851 

JosiAH Q. Stearns '' 185 1 " 1853 

William M. Whitehead " 1853 *' 1854 

Caleb Squier " 1854 " 1855 

City. 



Under the city charter of March 13, 1855. 
William J. Tenney from 1855 to 1857 



William J. Magie, 

Joseph Alward 

John Young 

Elias D. Smith . . . . , 
Edward S. At water 
J. Augustus Dix. . . . 

Warren R. Dix , 

William J. Shearer 
Richard E. Clement 



- 1857 


" I86I 


" I86I 


" 1865 


" 1865 


" 1875 


" 1875 


" 1877 


" 1877 


" 1880 


" 1880 


" 1894 


" 1894 


" 1895 


" 1895 


" 1907 


" 1907 


" 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

The Day of Small Things 9 

The Private Schools of the Early Period 24 

The Adelphian Academy ", 38 

The North-End School House 40 

The Female Humane Society 43 

The Elizabeth Town Free School Association 44 

The Lancasterian System 45 

The Beginning of Public Schools 47 

Under the Township Law 52 

Under the City Charter 58 

The Battin High School 64 

Evening Schools 65 

The Private Schools of the Later Period 68 

Parochial Schools 7^ 

General Review 74 

The School House at Lyons Farms 76 

Statistical Tables 78-85 



THE SCHOOL INTERESTS 
OF ELIZABETH 

A CITY OF NEW JERSEY 



The Day of Small Things. 

The early history of educational interests in the terri- 
tory embracing the present city of Elizabeth, N. J., like that 
of many other things, is enveloped in a haze through which 
only occasionally can anything be clearly distinguished. The 
sparse population, the lack of full public records during the 
settlement of the town, the absence of any organized system 
of public schools, the general indifference of the people in 
respect to education, except, of the most elementary charac- 
ter, and the scarcity of newspapers to record matters of lo- 
cal interest, makes an intelligent and absolutely correct view 
of the situation almost hopeless. Yet by gathering together 
such scattered items as have been found, a fair idea of such 
matters, as they existed in the days of our forefathers, may 
perhaps be obtained. 

The settlement of the town occurred in 1664-5, ^^^ ^^ 
far as I have been able to discover, there is no record what- 
ever bearing upon the subject of education until seventeen 
years later. 

No doubt this was occasioned by the weakness of the 
colony, which consisted at the first of sixty-five male inhab- 
itants, and was limited to four score families ; to their needs 
in building their homes and subduing their farm lands ; but 
no doubt more particularly to the lack of congeniality be- 
tween the New England associates who first occupied the 

9 



lo ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

ground and the company that Gov. Carteret brought with 
him from England when he came to assume charge of the 
provinces for the Lord's Proprietors. 

What little education was desired, presumably, was fur- 
nished by the clergymen, to whom in those early days was 
committed the oversight of instruction in secular as well as 
in religious matters. 

Rev. Jeremiah Peck became a freeholder of the town 
about 1668, and as he had been previously employed in New 
Haven, Ct., "to keep ye schools, to teach the schollers Lat- 
tine, Greek and Hebrew and fitt them for the Colledge," 
there, he no doubt combined the two lines of work in his 
new home. His pastorate terminated in 1678 and no special 
mention is found of the work of his successor, Rev. Seth 
Fletcher who settled here in 1680. He, however, in a let- 
ter dated Elizabeth Towne, March 25, 1681, addressed to 
Mr. Increase Mather of Boston, speaks incidentally of a 
Quaker who "is a schoolemr to some children in the towne 
(by nation a Scott, by name John Usquehart). A scholler 
he doth prof esse himself e to be, and I find that he hath the 
Latine tongue." From this it would seem as if, in the 
seventeen years that had elapsed since the settlement of the 
town, at least a few of the colonists were giving some atten- 
tion to the education of their children. 

As the town was without a minister for the five years fol- 
lowing his death in August, 1682, we must presume that 
during the interim the children were left to the tender mer- 
cies of "the Quaker." At the end of this period (1687), 
Rev. John Harriman was called to preach, and remained 
until his decease in 1705. He had conducted a school in 
New Haven, Ct., before coming here. He was a man of 
wonderful ability and great versatility, for in addition to 
his ministerial work he cultivated a farm of 100 acres, 
rented and operated the flour mill that was built at the 
bridge over the river, on South Broad St., he surveyed 
land, as occasion required, dealt in real estate, made cider, 
bought a slave now and then, sold glass, was a member of 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS ii 

Legislature for four years, and also kept a boarding school. 
Being a man of great exactness and keeping his accounts 
with scrupulous care, we know that his price for board was 
5s a week and for ''teaching the art of Navigation" i 3. 

With all these cares pressing on him we can hardly won- 
der that a stroke of apoplexy ended his life in 1705 at the 
comparatively early age of 57. His colleague, Rev. Samuel 
Melyen, remained in charge, but only for a brief period. 

In 1708 Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, who had married Mr. 
Melyen's sister in Connecticut, was installed pastor over the 
vacant church and took up the work. For nearly forty years 
he labored with zeal and fidelity among his people, largely 
engaged however with the ecclesiastical controversies that 
agitated the country at that period, and earning the encon- 
ium of being "one of the greatest and safest men of that 
age." His labors in this line completely overshadow what- 
ever he may have done for education although no doubt, as 
was the custom of the day, he received into his family from 
time to time young men whom he prepared for the ministry. 
His great claim for renown in this direction, however, is 
found in his successful effort to obtain a charter for the 
College of New Jersey. 

Seeing the difficulties experienced and the disadvantages 
labored under by the New Jersey applicants for admission 
to Yale and Harvard, he conceived the idea of establishing 
a college which should be easier of access, thus making New 
Jersey in an intellectual sense independent of her Eastern 
neighbors. He was one of a committee which in 1739 ap- 
plied for a charter to establish the proposed college. 

Owing however, to the war then being waged between 
Great Britain and Spain the granting of the charter was 
delayed from year to year, but persistent effort at last over- 
came all obstacles and, seven years later, under date of Oc- 
tober 22, 1746, the desired authority was granted by His 
Majesty George II under the seal of the Province of New 
Jersey. The Trustees immediately organized, appointed 
Mr. Dickinson President, and notified the public that "all 



12 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

persons suitably qualified may be admitted to an Academic 
Education." A few months appear to have been consumed 
in preparation, but at the stated time, the fourth week in 
May, 1747, the College of New Jersey opened its doors in 
Mr. Dickinson's own house on the West side of Pearl St., 
about at the Corner of Race St. between it and Washington 
Ave. This house was Mr. Dickinson's private property at 
that time, but was transferred by his heirs after his death, 
the next year to the Trustees of the First Church and be- 
came the church parsonage. During the Revolutionary war 
it was used as barracks by the patriot forces. On this ac- 
count it was burned down Feb. 25, 1779, by the British sol- 
diery under command of Col. Stirling. 

Barber in his "Historical Collections, New Jersey, Past 
and Present," states that the first sessions of the college were 
held in "an old academy which stood where the lecture room 
of the First Presbyterian Church now stands and which 
was burned down during the war of the revolution." Dr. 
Nicholas Murray in his "Notes concerning Elizabeth Town, 
its eminent men," etc., published in 1844, falls into the same 
error, the proof of which will be apparent further on. 

Mr. Caleb Smith, a Yale graduate, was employed as the 
first tutor. The death of Mr. Dickinson in October follow- 
ing the opening, changed the entire history of our famous 
seat of learning, for it was then placed under the care of 
Rev. Aaron Burr, D. D., of Newark (another of the trus- 
tees), and transferred to that city. It remained there for 
eight years, and was then moved to its permanent location 
at Princeton, where now, with extensive grounds and build- 
ings, abundant resources, and an amplified curriculum, it 
continues the work so modestly begun. 

Hatfield in his History of Elizabeth (1868) says that 
Gov. Belcher (1747-1753), wishing to establish the College 
permanently, befriended it in many ways. He used great 
energy in obtaining endowments and extended its privileges 
by granting a new charter, enlarging its powers and giving 
it wider scope. 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 13 

In 1753 appears the first mention of a house specially de- 
signed for school purposes. Under date of August 22nd of 
that year Gov. Jonathan Belcher granted a Charter of In- 
corporation to the First Presbyterian Congregation, giving 
power to its trustees ''to erect and repair Public Buildings 
for the Worship of God and the use of the Ministry, and 
School Houses and Alms Houses, and suitably to Support 
the Ministry and the Poor of their Church." 

Up to this time, all education had evidently been con- 
fined to the children of well-to-do parents who could pay 
for their tutoring, but it is evident that the necessity for 
general instruction of all classes was beginning to make it- 
self felt. We must remember that in the early days class 
distinction was very marked and while the gentry and influ- 
ential citizens were held in greater or less esteem according 
to their ability, the poor were left to shift for themselves, 
more especially in the matter of learning. There was much 
the same condition of affairs as prevailed in our Southern 
States before the great War of the Rebellion in 1861-1865. 
Evidence of this is found in the Act passed June 21, 1754, 
largely through the influence of Gov. Belcher, enabling "the 
Mayor, Recorder, Alderman and Common Councilmen of 
the free Borough and Town of Elizabeth to build a Poor- 
house, Workhouse and House of Correction, ... to the 
Intent the Poor of the said Borough may be better employed 
and maintained : poor Children educated and brought up in 
an honest and industrious Way," etc., etc. 

I find no mention of any proceedings under either of these 
two instruments until 1767. In the autumn of 1766 a gram- 
mar school was begun under charge of Tapping Reeve, a 
Princeton graduate of 1763, who had come to Elizabeth 
Town to be private tutor of Aaron Burr and his sister, or- 
phan children, in the home of their uncle, Mr. Timothy Ed- 
wards. 

Associated with Mr. Reeve was Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr., 
also a Princeton graduate, a son of the Rev. Ebenezer Pem- 
berton, D. D., who was one of the charter members of the 



14 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

College, and who though living in Boston still retained such 
an interest in the institution that he sent his son to Prince- 
ton for an education. 

"The School succeeded; and in March, 1767, Reeve and 
Pemberton, Masters of the Grammar School in Elizabeth 
Town, 'inform the public that they continue to teach the 
Greek and Latin Language and that a commodious House 
is provided in the centre of the Town for the accommoda- 
tion of a large School,' also that 'Gentlemen of Education in 
the Town will frequently visit the School.' The terms were 
£5 per annum and 20s entrance, for tuition. Board to be 
had in good families for £20 a year." 

For the erection of this "Commodious House" a sub- 
scription was made by some of the public spirited citizens. 
It amounted to £yo and was given to the Trustees of the 
Presbyterian Church, who ordered August 24, 1767, "that 
a proper House be erected on the uppermost end of the 
Burial Yard Lot." Messrs. William P. Smith and Benja- 
min Spinning of the Board of Trustees and Dr. William 
Barnet and Nehemiah Wade of the Congregation were to 
supervise its erection. A legacy of iioo left by Mr. Joseph 
Ogden was available to cover any deficiency in the cost of 
the building. 

A committee consisting of the two clergymen and four 
prominent laymen of the town was "Requested to undertake 
the Business of Visiting the sd Grammar School during the 
first year . . . once a Quarter or oftener if they think 
proper." 

This evidently was the first building to be erected distinc- 
tively for school purposes. It stood on the site of the pres- 
ent Lecture-Room at the Corner of Broad St. and Caldwell 
Place; was built of wood with a cupola and used for its 
purpose until the Revolutionary war, when it was turned 
into a storehouse for military supplies, on which account it 
was burnt to the ground by the British February 25, 1779. 

Reeve and Pemberton both left the school in 1769 and 
Mr. Joseph Periam, another Princeton graduate, then took 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 15 

charge, continuing for two years. He was a man of fine 
educational abilities and died in 1789. 

November i, 1771, Mr. Francis Barber was called to the 
post and remained until the commencement of the war, 
when he resigned his position and entered the patriot army. 
In this he rendered distinguished service, holding the rank 
of Colonel in the Jersey Brigade, serving as aid to the Gen- 
eral Commanding and receiving a severe wound at the bat- 
tle of Monmouth, June 28th, 1778. 

The Revolution naturally caused a lull in educational mat- 
ters throughout the country as well as in Elizabeth town. 
The deserted school-house was turned into a storehouse for 
army suppHes and used for that purpose until February 25, 
1779, when it was burned by British soldiers. 

"Inter arma leges silentia" and scholastic affairs usually 
suffer a similar eclipse. During the war the able-bodied 
men and youth were in the service of their country, for 
Elizabeth Town was intensely patriotic despite the continual 
annoyance of the tories in its midst and of the vigilant ene- 
emy on the opposite Staten Island shore. Many families 
were refugees seeking security among the Orange hills and 
when they returned after peace was declared it was to a 
town desolated by war and marked by the ruins of the 
burned court-house, church, school-house, parsonage, bar- 
racks and many private dwellings. 

Years were required to gather the scattered inhabitants, 
rebuild the town, re-adjust the disorganized affairs and to 
draw order out of the confusion resultant from the eight 
years clash of arms. 

Soon after peace was declared the Corporation of the 
Borough obtained due authority for and commenced a lot- 
tery to raise the sum of ^2500 for "rebuilding the Court 
House and Gaol and finishing the Academy, which during 
the late war were occupied for the use of the United States, 
and burnt by the enemy." 

The venture was successful and the school-house was 
erected, although some twelve years passed before the lot- 



i6 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

tery accounts were finally stated and settled by the mana- 
gers, Jonathan H. Lawrence and Elias B. Dayton. 

In the N. J. Journal of August i, 1787, it was announced 
that on ''Monday (July 30) an handsome edifice was reared 
in this town to be devoted to the cultivation of science. 
. . . It is to be denominated The Elizabeth Town Acad- 
emy." It was a frame structure of two stories, each floor 
being divided into two rooms. If "reared" on the date 
named, it was not finished until two years later when it was 
opened for puoils, June i, 1789, under the charge of Mr. 
Patrick Murdock in the Latin, and Mr. Luther Halsey, in 
the English departments. The notice appeared in the N. 
J. Journal of May 20, 1789. That Mr. Murdock was in de- 
mand is shown by another, in the issue of May 6th, two 
weeks previous, reading thus, 'The Trustees of the Acad- 
emy at Hackinsack, in the County of Bergen and State of 
New Jersey inform the Public that the said Academy will 
be again opened on the 19th inst. by Mr. Patrick Murdock, 
who will teach the Learned Languages, Arts and Sciences 
and French." He was educated at the University of Edin- 
burgh and taught in an Academy at Wilmington, Del., for 
several years. 

The rates of tuition and board were the same as in pre- 
vious years, viz : £5 and £20. It seems to have been the cus- 
tom of the times to consider the Latin teacher as the one in 
charge of the school, and responsible for the general wel- 
fare, The English teacher is not always mentioned when- 
ever changes are recorded. There were cranks in those old- 
en days as well as at the present time. Note the following. 
"Monitor," in a communication to the Journal of Apl. i, 
1789, objects to the use of the Holy Scriptures in the school 
on account of the sacred character of the book and his fear 
that the scholars will lose proper reverence for it. Is it pos- 
sible that the date of publication has any bearing on the con- 
dition of "Monitor's" mind? Mr. Murdock was succeeded 
by Col. John Taylor, afterwards a professor in Union Col- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 17 

lege, N. Y., in November 1790, but Mr. Halsey, still con- 
tinued to teach the English branches. 

July 14, 1790, a French School was opened from six to 
nine A. M. and from five to seven in the evening "in one of 
the upper rooms of the Academy for the present Quarter. 
Apply to Joseph L. Saltonstall at the Academy." Note the 
hours of attendance, which seem to have been arranged so 
as not to interfere with the Latin and English classes, dur- 
ing the middle of the day. 

November 6, 1792, a ''Mr. Stevenson, whose reputation 
has been well established at New Brunswick and elsewhere" 
took charge, and remained at least until the following sum- 
mer, for under date of March 26, 1793, intending patrons 
are requested to "apply to Mr. Stevenson, instructor." They 
are further informed that there is "under the same roof" 
an English School taught by Mr. Sherman — also a French 
School under Mr. DeHensch. 

Mr. Samuel C. Blackman followed next and continued 
until 1796. September 14th of that year announcement was 
made that owing to a severe indisposition "preventing Mr. 
Blackman from continuing his charge," Mr. Felters' ser- 
vices had been secured. 

Henry J. Felters was a young English Methodist minister 
who had come over from the old country the year before. 
He remained three years. In the Spring of 1797 the Eng- 
lish school was vacant and continued so during the summer, 
for under date of October 12th the Trustees were forced to 
advertise for a teacher, having failed to secure one in the 
usual way. 

The next principal of the classical school was David 
Young, a Yale graduate of 1799, remaining until 1801. 
March i6th of that year he advertises that he proposes to 
leave Elizabeth Town next May. Mr. Young in after years 
made a name for himself by astronomical work, furnishing 
the calculations for Hutchins Improved Almanac, and in 
1819 publishing one on his own account under the nom-de- 
plume of "Philom." In the issue of May 6, 1823, the editor 



i8 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

of the N. J. Journal says on the authority of Mr. David 
Young that there will be no eclipse on the 27th of June, 
1824. He succeeded in leaving the town as he had pro- 
posed. 

November i, 1801, the Trustees give notice that *'Mr. 
Edward D. Barry is the present teacher" and that they will 
examine the students on the first Monday of every quarter 
and confer premiums, etc. 

March 27,, 1802. he is again mentioned as "the present 
teacher." Tuition in English studies is $2.50 per quarter 
and "the Academy is well supplied with Globes and Maps." 
Mr. Barry was an Irishman graduated from Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin, and is said to have been a successful teacher. 
He afterwards entered the ministry of the Episcopal church 
and was well known in his profession. 

The next incumbent was Rev. Samuel Lilly who came to 
the town under appointment as rector of St. John's Church, 
August 28, 1803. He may have assumed charge of the 
school at that time, but the first record we note is under date 
of July 20, 1804, when public notice is given that "the Acad- 
emy under the Superintendence of Rev. Samuel Lilly and 
the Board of Trustees, assisted by teachers, will be opened 
on Monday next the 23rd of July instant." Mr. Lilly an- 
nounces his willingness" to Board and Lodge pupils from a 
distance." 

The youth of the present day who wilt under the summer 
sun and who would rise in rebellion if "school kept in" after 
Independence Day will learn a lesson by carefully noting the 
date upon which this school began. 

Although Mr. Lilly resigned his ministerial charge on 
April 30, 1804, he may have remained in the town and at- 
tended to his school duties, for no mention of any change 
appears until December 30, 1806, when we are told that 
"the Grammar School in said Academy was opened last 
month under care and instruction of Mr. Henry Mills, a 
graduate of Princeton College." He had been employed in 
Morristown as "usher" (under teacher) and comes well rec- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 19 

ommended by both Principals of the Academy there." He 
also, later, entered the ministry and was connected with the 
Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Auburn, N. Y., with 
the degree of D. D. 

Under date of June 28, 1808, we are told that *'the quar- 
terly examination in Mr. Ross' Department of the Academy 
will take place on Friday next." This is probably Mr. 
James Ross who on November 20, 1809, ''returns thanks for 
encouragement in past endeavors and for kindness shown 
during his late sickness, and will open his school in the 
Academy Monday, December 4, 1809." He had previously 
taught at Lyons Farms (1796-1801) — in the North End 
School-house (1801-1808), and afterwards conducted his 
school in the Adelphian Academy (1817-1826). 

Dr. Hatfield mentions that Mr. Mills was followed by 
William Belden ''till 18 12." I have been unable to verify 
this statement and think it is possibly an error, as I find no 
note of his coming on the scene until 181 1. October 24th 
of that year John McDowell, President of the Board of 
Trustees, gives notice that "the Grammar School in the 
Elizabeth Town Academy will be opened under the Rev. 
William C. Belden. He has taught several years in Con- 
necticut and is recommended by Prest. Dwight and Prof. 
Silliman." Had he been teaching here before this, probably 
no mention would have been made of his previous experi- 
ence elsewhere, and the fact that he was returning to the 
town would have been noted. 

The President of the Board was the pastor of the First 
Presbyterian Church, who had come to the place in 1804 
and whose good work for nearly thirty years is a fragrant 
memory in the annals of the town. 

Under date of July 10, 1812, Dr. McDowell advertised 
that Rev. John C. Rudd had consented to undertake the 
superintendence of the Elizabeth Town Academy, "Compe- 
tent instruction will be provided in the several branches" 
and the Academy "will be opened for students July 2.']^ 

Mr. Rudd was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church 



20 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

who had been installed as such in May, 1806. This would 
show that the antagonism which had previously existed be- 
tween the two bodies of Christians was giving way to more 
enlightened views and that they were beginning to learn to 
live in peace and co-operate in good works. 

August 10, 1812, Mr. Rudd gave notice that he had en- 
gaged Mr. John Cook as an instructor in the English De- 
partment of the Academy. 

October 12, 1812, the public examination of the Classical 
School took place at nine o'clock A. M. with "speaking" at 
twelve. The English School was examined next day at ten. 

During the year a decided change was inaugurated in the 
separation of the sexes in the English Department, for the 
next notice of examination appoints that for the Classical 
School at nine A. M. of July 19, 181 3, with "the EngHsh 
Department for boys" at three P. M. of the same day. The 
"Female School" would be examined the next day at nine 
A. M. 

April 18, 1814, "The Superintendent has made arrange- 
ments for a female school which will be opened on the sec- 
ond day of May by a lady he has engaged for the purpose." 

November 7, 18 14, he has engaged "another lady of ex- 
perience and reputation" and the school would be opened 
November 9, 1814. 

September 11, 1815, "The Trustees of Elizabeth Town 
Academy announce that the Classical Department is now 
under the charge of Edward Allen, a graduate of Prince- 
ton College. He has taught here for two years previous to 
entering college, in this school." He was probably one of 
the "Competent instructors" engaged in 1812, when Rev. 
Mr. Rudd was looking after its affairs and continued dur- 
ing the following year. He afterwards entered the ministry 
and had a long and successful service in the Presbyterian 
body. He remained with the school under this second en- 
gagement for two years and was succeeded by Mr. Moses 
Smith April i, 1817. 

Mr. Philetus E. Haines had charge of the English school 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 21 

in the lower rooms. Mr. Smith came from Hudson, N. Y., 
and was a popular teacher, having a school which evidently 
was eminently satisfactory to all concerned, as was also that 
of Mr. Haines. Both remained until 1823, for on January 
I, 1822, and on the 15th of the same month, meetings were 
held, looking to the formation of an Apprentice Library ''in 
Mr. Smith's room in the Academy at six P. M." ; and in 
November of the same year a meeting to form a Debating 
Society was held "at Mr. Haines School room." 

That winter the spirits of evil were abroad, for on April 
7, 1823, the Trustees gave notice that ''they have elected 
Mr. John L. Van Doren Principal of the Academy. School 
will open on Monday the 21st inst. He will teach English 
scholars, as well as Latin and Greek." 

On April 14th Mr. P. E. Haines states that, "having re- 
signed his situation in the Academy, he will open an English 
School on the following Monday, 21st inst. This, coupled 
with the fact that Mr. Van Doren was to teach both the 
Classical and English scholars, indicates that the days of 
decadence for the old school had set in. 

No doubt the competition of the Adelphian Academy had 
had its influence and it may be that the high character of the 
private schools was proving to be a factor in the situation 
by weakening the adherence of its earlier supporters. It 
certainly looks as if the change had not been made without 
friction and the new condition was not entirely satisfactory, 
for on June 24, 1823, the "Associates of Elizabeth Town 
Academy are requested to meet," with the significant noti- 
fication that "Business of much importance is to be trans- 
acted." We have no knowledge of what this important bus- 
iness was, but a new policy in regard to management was 
soon developed and private schools, not under the direct 
control of the Trustees, were allowed to occupy one or more 
rooms in the building. 

August 4, 1823, "Mr. Stephen Pierson has opened a school 
in the Elizabeth Town Academy for English Education." 
Here is the first instance of private competition with the 



22 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

old institution, right on its own ground. In Dec, 1825, the 
experiment of a school conducted on the Lancasterian Sys- 
tem (see page 45) was put in operation in one of the rooms 
of the Academy under charge of Mr. Caleb J. Luster. It 
was not long lived, for two years later Jan'y i, 1828, he ac- 
cepted charge of the Adelphian Academy where he re- 
mained until 1845. 

Mr. Van Doren may have continued to be principal of 
the Academy School, side by side with these other educators 
in their private attempts and there may have been no fric- 
tion between them. At all events we note no change until 
October 16, 1826, when the Trustees announced the engage- 
ment of "Mr. Matthias O. Dayton to take charge of the 
Academy." This was followed eight days later by the ad- 
vertisement of Mr. Dayton stating that ''he has been ap- 
pointed Principal. For the present, the South lower room 
is open for English pupils, as well as Classical, in the inten- 
tion that as circumstances require, an English teacher shall 
be procured and a division be made." This hope was not 
at once realized. 

March 17, 1828, "the Classical Department is still con- 
ducted by Mr. M. O. Dayton" who also taught the English 
branches. The newspaper of the day gave utterance to the 
"hope that this Ancient Institution will now resume its 
rank among the respectable Academies of our country." 

May 13th of the same year notice was published that Mr. 
Abner Stiles "has opened an English school at the Academy 
on Broad Street." This latter venture was short-lived. 

September 7, 1829, Mr. Dayton "proposes to remove his 
school to the house of Mr. Smith by the Wooden Bridge," 
but a week later changed his mind, yielding evidently to the 
persuasions of the Trustees, and "will remain at the Acade- 
my, and by resolution of the Trustees will take charge of 
both English and Classical Departments." It was a forlorn 
hope. Whether he again changed his mind, and actually re- 
moved his school to other quarters does not appear, but that 
he ceased to rule in the old building is shown by a public 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 23 

notice, on November 3, 1829, scarcely two months later, that 
Mr. Samuel Nason will open an English School in the Acad- 
emy in the room lately occupied by Mr. Dayton. 

For two years there is no further record. How long Mr. 
Nason struggled against the inevitable, history does not tell, 
but we can picture a solitary man gathering from day to day 
a straggling band of children in rooms that had once shel- 
tered full classes of happy students, and vainly striving to 
reinstate in its former glory that upon which the seal of 
dissolution was already set. 

A significant silence follows. The gatherings cease. The 
shouts of happy boys and girls are no longer heard. The 
murmur of study is stilled. Dust gathers on the unused 
desks and silence reigns in the empty rooms. The spider 
weaves her web and there is none to disturb her. 

In 1832 a revival of interest was apparent and in Janu- 
ary 9th of that year Mr. George Hall found it "expedient 
for him to occupy a room in the Academy." He makes no 
statement as to his course of study, but contents himself 
with the bare announcement, leaving us to infer that his 
school had already been established in some other locality. 

April 9, 1832, Doct. C. Abbott will open an English 
School in the Academy. ^'Scripture lessons will be given 
every Monday morning." He refers to Rev. Dr. John Mc- 
Dowell. 

March 25, 1833, "Miss P. W. Barton intends opening a 
School in the South room of the Academy." She taught 
English branches. Sewing, Marking, Lace Work, Painting, 
Wax Work, etc., etc. 

*'Miss M. M. Barton will continue her school as usual on 
Jersey St." 

April 29, 1834, the Associates of Elizabeth Town Acad- 
emy were called together, and again on June 25th, they "met 
to receive proposals from the Trustees of the First Church" 
and the institution that had played such an important part 
in the history of the town was in the throes of dissolution. 
The Journal, in commenting upon the matter, says that "this 



24 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

building has latterly fallen into disuse and decay. In fact 
it is now a nuisance and a disgrace to the town." 

Poor old Academy ! How fallen from a high estate ! Are 
there none so poor to do you reverence ? We can almost im- 
agine you incarnate, moaning out your woe on the still air 
and can hear you cry, ''Where are the friends of my 
youth ?" 

Yet there was one brave heart. November 17, 1834, Ed- 
win Garthwait opened ''an English School in the Academy 
on Broad Street." It proved to be the last flash of the 
fire that had burned so many years. 

The end had come. Dead in spirit beyond all hope of 
resuscitation, and decayed in its visible form until it was an 
offence in the sight of men, the building was transferred to 
the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church and by them, 
in the following year (1835) remodeled to serve the pur- 
pose of a lecture-room, continuing to be used as such until 
1863, when it was moved across Broad St. to a location 
near Washington St. and replaced by the structure now up- 
on the spot. 

The Private Schools of the Early Period. 

With the close of the revolutionary war the community 
returned to the ways of peace, and the needs of the grow- 
ing town induced the establishment from time to time of 
private schools which have left their impress even to this 
day. It would be a vain task to attempt to make mention of 
them all, but the liberal extracts from the papers of the day 
which follow will give a fair idea of their variety and 
scope. The location of some of these cannot be definitely 
determined now but many are still recognizable. 

The first to command our attention is that of Anne Wil- 
liams who, under date of April 13, 1789, advertised that she 
had established a day and boarding school for "Young 
Misses in Reading, plain sewing and every other kind of 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 25 

needle-work." Nothing further is known of the teacher or 
the taught. 

May I, 1791, Madame Capron opened ''a school for the 
French tongue, tambour and needle-work, embroidery, sprig 
and lace work on muslin, sewing, etc. She shall regulate 
her prices by that of preceding teachers." She afterwards 
advertised to receive scholars in the afternoon, on account 
of their studies at the Academy. She was of French birth 
and in addition to "the French tongue," gave instruction in 
French manners and accomplishments, having in her em- 
ploy native French dancing masters, who taught the latest 
foreign styles of Terpsicorean art. She appears to have 
succeeded in building up a good class for she continued it 
for four years, when she turned it over to Madame Tapray, 
probably another lady of French descent. 

French influences and tendencies were very manifest at 
this period in many ways, and for two very obvious reasons. 
Gratitude to that nation for its material and active assist- 
ance during the Revolutionary war so recently closed, and 
sympathy with the Republican spirits which now were striv- 
ing in the throes of the French Revolution to establish a 
democratic form of government across the water, would 
naturally draw the people in close touch and imitation, and 
the sentiment found expression in many other ways than in 
the school announcements. 

It must also be remembered that the town had attracted 
not a few famiUes of French descent, who had made their 
homes within its pleasant bounds. These no doubt would 
influence sentiment to a very considerable extent. 

In 1793 the Trustees of the Academy deemed that there 
was room for another French school for they announced 
one there under charge of Mr. DeHensch. 

Mr. Stevenson, the principal, seems to have been active 
in educational matters for he announces a Boarding school 
for Young Ladies and Misses to be opened Apl. 16, 1793, 
and in the following year (Apl. 8, 1794) he advertizes "a 
French School is opened by James Stevenson from 5 to 6J^ 



26 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

P. M." He no doubt carried it on while pursuing his regu- 
lar work as principal of the Academy. Two years later he 
had severed his connection with the Academy for on March 
30, 1796, he advertizes "an Academical Boarding-School in 
which it is hoped will be found united, the advantages of a 
public and private education." We have no means of know- 
ing what the outcome of the combination was. 

May 21, 1794, Mrs. McGregor and Miss Ranken adver- 
tise to "teach Needle-work of all kinds, Writing, Arithme- 
tic, Reading and Letters." 

April 2, 1804. Mrs. Mervin "has opened a Boarding 
School for Young Ladies in the house next door to the 
Episcopal Church." 

March 4, 1805. Mrs. Henry (formerly Mary Price) will 
open a room April ist, "to teach Reading, Writing, Sewing, 
etc." At the same time she has "a likely, active, trusty ne- 
gro boy in his ninth year, for sale, also silk and muslin 
bonnets." A stranger association of dissimilar commodities 
has seldom been seen in the limits of a brief newspaper no- 
tice. 

May 19, 1806. Charles Rudd intends opening a seminary 
for Young Ladies in the large room in the third story of 
the Court House. 

May 9, 1807. Eliphalet Price intends to open his school 
on April ist in Bridge St., near the Adelphian Academy. 

April 20, 1807. Mrs. LeBreton purposes opening on the 
1st of May a French and English Day School for Young 
Ladies. 

March 23, 1812. William Belden "purposes to open a 
morning school in the Academy on the 20th day of April 
next for the instruction of Young Ladies in English, Gram- 
mar, Arithmetic, Geography, Mathematics, Rhetoric, His- 
tory, Astronomy, and any other branch of English Educa- 
tion that may be needed. The school will begin at six and 
close at eight in the morning, and if it meets with proper en- 
couragement will be continued during the summer." We 
will never know whether the "proper encouragement" was 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 2^ 

given, but he would be a bold man indeed who in these later 
days would dare propose assembling for study at six o'clock 
A. M. 

April lo, 1812. "A. Duport, having returned to Eliza- 
beth Town will open his French School at the academy on 
the first Monday in May next." From this wording, it 
would appear that he had been in town at some previous 
time and probably had a school, although I have found no 
mention of it. This last effort lasted but a short time, for 
on October 14th, 1813, he had disposed of all his worldly 
goods and bads, by public vendue, and disappeared from 
the scene. 

About the year 1813 Miss Julia Gorham began a school for 
girls in the house on the East side of West Jersey St., next 
to the railroad, and continued there during the winter. The 
next spring she took charge of the girls class at the Academy 
where she remained about two years. She is the lady to 
whom Dr. Rudd refers in his advertisement of April 18, 
1814, (q. v.). She then resumed her own private school in a 
house on the corner of Broad and West Grand Sts., now the 
Union County Trust Co.'s site, but afterwards occupied the 
large mansion on Broad St., near the river, now the home of 
the Elizabeth Public Library, remaining there until 1833. 
March 19th, of that year she says that, ''intending to leave 
Elizabeth Town she will resign the charge of her school 
into the hands of Miss Spalding who has been with her for 
more than two years." This arrangement was to begin on 
the first of April. She had previously given notice that she 
expected to leave by March 15, and asked for a prompt set- 
tlement of accounts due her. 

The next year, March 18, 1834, "Miss Spalding will re- 
open her school April loth in Jersey St., in the house form- 
erly the residence of Col. Aaron Ogden." This was long 
familiarly known as ''Boxwood Hall" and is the house now 
occupied as the Home for Aged Women, just below Scott 
Park. 

Here she remained, achieving a fine reputation and com- 



28 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

manding increasing patronage from year to year, until the 
need for larger quarters led to the erection of a house espec- 
ially adapted to the accommodations of the school at No. 
211 South Broad St. Removing to this she continued her 
chosen work with remarkable ability and devotion until her 
death in i860. In the long roll of famous teachers of the 
past years no name is recalled more pleasantly than that of 
Miss Clarissa D. Spalding. 

Her mantle fell upon Miss Nancy D. Ranney who in ear- 
lier years had been her assistant and who meanwhile had 
reaped high honors as an instructor in Hartford, Ct., and 
Newark, N. J. For twenty years she maintained the high 
standards of the home and the school with singular dignity 
and success, and justifying to the full, the reputation which 
had preceded her. In 1881 she resigned her place to be suc- 
ceeded by Miss Anna Purviance who continued the school 
until 1889 when failing health prompted its transfer to Miss 
Mary Hunt, who had been similarly employed in Paterson, 
N. J. After a few years it was closed and has not since 
been re-established. 

June 12, 1821. Mr. Daun explains Grammar '*at Miss 
Gorham's school-room." 

About this time from 1813 to 1821 Miss Hall had a 
Boarding School for Young Ladies in Samuel Smith's 
house. This in later years was enlarged and became the 
Sheridan House, on the site now occupied by the new 
Court House. She afterwards removed to the house on the 
north-east corner of Broad St. and Elizabeth Ave., which 
also in time became an inn, and was the well-known Sander- 
son's Hotel, famous throughout the state in stage-coach 
days. From the front of this hotel, as late as 1847 a car 
track extended down Elizabeth Ave. to and through Jeffer- 
son Ave., to the ferry wharf at the foot of Broadway, and 
a car drawn by horses made regular trips connecting with 
the steam-boats for New York. Miss Hall's school ranked 
as one of the leading schools of the day, being one of the 
three specially mentioned by the Trustees of the Academy 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 29 

in their advertisement of May 2, 1818, but was broken up 
by charges of ill treatment of a pupil from the south, made 
by Dr. Grant. 

March 9, 1818. ''Mrs. Brown, formerly Mrs. Bowring, 
informs her friends that she has removed to this place 
from New York and occupies the house formerly Mr. Hus- 
tiers', now known by the name of Stitesville, where she has 
opened a select Boarding School for Young Ladies." No- 
tice to similar effect was published April 24, 1820. The lo- 
cation is on West Jersey St., beyond DeHart Place and the 
name Stitesville had been given by a former owner. She 
removed to New Orleans after three or four years and died 
in that city. 

These three schools are specially mentioned by the Trus- 
tees of the Academy on May 2, 1818, when, in advertising 
the beginning of another term of that institution, they take 
pains to say that "we have also three boarding schools for 
Young Ladies, viz: Miss Hall's, Miss Gorham's and Mrs. 
Brown's. The tutoresses are in high repute." 

December i, 1818. David O. Price intends to open his 
school for the ensuing winter for Young Ladies' Writing 
and Arithmetic." Likewise, a Young Ladies' English 
School. No location is given but as the town was small 
there would be no difficulty in finding David O's head- 
quarters. 

May 7, 182 1. Miss S. Crittenden ''has opened her Board- 
ing and Day School for Young Ladies" and refers intending 
patrons to Rev. Mr. Rudd. April i, 1823, she "removed to 
the Airy and Commodious house formerly owned by Sam- 
uel Smith, deceased" (later, the Sheridan House). Her 
school which continued for fifteen years or more was note- 
worthy for careful instruction and wholesome discipline. 

October 2, 1821. Mention is made that "Rev. J. C. 
Rudd's school will be examined on Thursday and Friday 
next in the school-room near St. John's Church Parsonage, 
on Mathematics, History and other English studies. This 



30 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

location is on Pearl St., between South Broad and Bridge 
St. 

November 26, 1822. Mr. Rudd states that he has "se- 
cured a young Gentleman to instruct in the English Depart- 
ment of his Seminary which will be taught in future sep- 
arately from the Scientific and Classical Departments." 

September 10, 1822. "Mr. J. W. Salter, a graduate of 
Yale College, has this day opened a Classical School over 
the store of Edward Price, Esq." 

April 17, 1826. Mr. J. Periam announces that he has 
taken rooms in Grant's row and will open on the 24th inst. 
a school for both sexes. The female department will be in 
a separate room. 

September i, 1826. Mr. Fairfield proposes on the 4th 
inst. a select school for Classical and English Education. 
His references were "in the hands of Rev. Mr. Pyne, and 
his terms "the same as were those of Rev. Dr. Rudd." The 
latter clergyman had been rector of St. John's Church from 
May, 1806, until June, 1826, when from ill health he re- 
signed and removed to Utica, N. Y. Rev. Smith Pyne was 
his successor until December, 1828, when he removed to 
Middletown, Ct. It is fair to assume that Mr. Fairfield took 
up Rev. Dr. Rudd's school work, although there is a conflict- 
ing element of uncertainty in an announcement made Sep- 
tember 12, 1826, that "Mr. M. O. Dayton proposes to open 
a school in the beginning of October for English Studies, 
the Classicks and the Mathematicks," and it was opened Oc- 
tober nth "in the rooms formerly occupied by Rev. Dr. 
Rudd." As the Trustees of the Academy publicly an- 
nounced the engagement of Mr. Matthias O. Dayton on Oc- 
tober i6th, it may be that some amicable arrangement was 
made, although the situation is not entirely clear. 

We strike solid bottom again on September 28, 1830, 
when "a new school will be opened at St. John's Church 
Parsonage by B. G. Noble. The number of scholars is lim- 
ited to twenty, ten of whom will be boarded." The princi- 
pal was Rev. Birdseye Glover Noble, the rector who fol- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 31 

lowed Rev. Mr. Pyne in March, 1829, and remained until 
October, 1833. Five brief notices of his school appear in the 
Journal, the last bearing date of August 20, 1832. 

In 1827 Rev. John T. Halsey, who had been located for 
a long time previous at Newburgh, N. Y., and for a short 
period at Woodbridge Seminary, removed to this place and 
established a boys' school with an attendance of forty-five 
or fifty scholars. His ''Boarding School for Young Gentle- 
men will be opened October 22, 1827, i" Mayor Shutes 
former residence in the North part of Elizabeth Town." He 
was very popular and successful. The school had a great 
reputation attracting pupils from the leading families of 
the town and country, and was continued under his man- 
agement until his death in 1842, after a long and severe 
sickness, when it was disbanded. 

Two years afterward, at the earnest solicitation of Rev. 
Drs. Murray and Magie, who were fully alive to the loss the 
town had sustained, it was revived in November, 1844, by 
Rev. David H. Pierson (afterwards D. D.), who had form- 
erly been associated with Mr. Halsey and continued in its 
old quarters on Chilton Hill for about six months. He then 
removed to the old Broad St. mansion (now the Public Li- 
brary) where he stayed until about 1847. He next occupied 
rooms at the N. E. corner of Broad and Jersey Sts., until 
1850, when he built Pearl Cottage, on Salem Ave. near 
North Broad St., almost opposite the site of the North End 
School-house. He continued here until 1869, when on ac- 
count of failing health he disposed of it to Rev. Joseph 
Wyckofif who came from Kingston, N. Y., and who carried 
it on until the building was destroyed by fire a few years 
later. Dr. Pierson lived among us in honorable retirement 
until his death October 30, 1889. 

A catalogue of this school giving a list of pupils from 
1844 to 1861, furnishes many names of citizens who have 
made their impress upon our civil and religious affairs, 
many of whom still live, enjoying the respect and esteem of 
their fellow townsmen. 
3 



32 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

May 19, 1829. "Miss E. Burling from New York has 
opened a School for Young Ladies and Children in Reading, 
Writing, French and English Language, Arithmetic, Geog- 
raphy, History, Ornamental and Plain Needle Work, etc.," 
and located in Meadow St. (now Madison Ave.) the first 
house from Jersey St. May 8, 1837, she says she "contin- 
ues her school in Meadow St." 

April 9, 1830. Thomas O. Crane proposes teaching an 
English School in Jersey St., in a school-room "by the house 
of his father." October i, 1833. "Mr. Thomas O. Crane 
will commence the winter session of his school on October 
14th." This was an English School and in connection with 
it he had an evening school. September 15, 1834, he again 
advertised his English School. August 7, 1837, he "has 
opened an English School at his house on the corner of 
Spring St. and the Somerville R. R." 

Wc now come to a peculiarly interesting incident, in 
school affairs. January 26, 1830, appeared the announce- 
ment of the "Manual Labor Academy at Elizabeth Town." 
The primary object was stated to be to educate Gospel Stu- 
dents, although others would be received. They were to la- 
bor three hours per day at Horticulture or Mechanics. The 
charges were $140 per year, less the value of services which 
would be allowed, and it was expected the net cost would 
not exceed $60. Singularly enough, this amount is exactly 
the same as is stated to be the net cost of a scholarship in 
one of the leading self-help colleges of the country at the 
present time. And this, despite the large difference in the 
cost of food. It was to be opened May ist, 1830, under 
the charge of William H. Borroughs, who had been a Pro- 
fessor in a similar school at Germantown, Pa., and had 
taught Academy at Trenton, N. J. Shepard Kollock's com- 
modious, three-story house in the centre of the town had 
been engaged (now known, much altered, as No. 51 and 53 
Broad St.). Day scholars, as well as boarders, were re- 
ceived. Mr. Marcus Catlin, Mathematician, a graduate of 
Hamilton College (1827) was Mr. Borroughs' assistant and 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 33 

Mr. J. A. Ackley taught the English branches. This new 
departure was under the auspices of Rev. John McDowell, 
D. D., President, and Rev. David Magie (not yet, as in after 
life, a D. D.), Secretary. In November of the same year 
note was made of the beginning of the second session of the 
school, and of the addition of another work-room 20 by 60 
feet in size and two stories high. 

The prosperity indicated by this last fact did not continue 
long, for on February 7, 1832, Elijah Kellogg and John J. 
Bryant, Trustees, "in behalf of the Associates of Fellen- 
burgh Hall" advertised at auction sale ''the house in Broad 
St., called Fellenburgh Hall, formerly owned and occupied 
by Shepard Kollock, Esq., and lately occupied by Mr. Wil- 
liam H. Borroughs as a Manual Labor Academy" — also "sl 
lot in the rear on Jefferson Street with a building erected a 
year ago as a workshop." This unique enterprise came to 
grief through the undue value allowed for the labor of the 
students. Most of them were mere lads and spoiled more 
material than their work was worth ; yet in addition to this 
loss their wages had to be allowed, as an offset for board 
and tuition, so that, as a financial problem the plan was a 
complete failure. 

September 8, 1832, Mr. Borroughs disposed of his fur- 
niture at auction and disappears from the records of the 
town. He removed to Turkey (New Providence) where he 
became pastor of the Presbyterian Church. 

Previous to this however (December 19, 1831), Mr. 
George Hall, a student of Dartmouth College says he will 
open a school for Boys on January 3, 1832, in a room in the 
house occupied by William H. Borroughs. He would teach 
the English branches at $4 per quarter, and Latin and 
Greek at $6 per quarter. January 9, 1832, he says that 
''circumstances make it expedient for him to occupy a room 
in the Academy, nearly opposite the place previously men- 
tioned." 

April 3, 1833. "Mrs. Noe has opened a school in Water 



34 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

St. in the house lately occupied by Mrs. Gray." She taught 
English Branches, needle-work and music. 

March 21, 1834. ''Miss M. M. Barton and sisters will 
remove from Jersey St. to Water St., to the house of Joseph 
D. Price, April 3rd next." The year previous one of the 
sisters (full number unknown) had tried the experiment of 
going alone by establishing herself in one of the rooms of 
the Academy but probably found it an unsuccessful ven- 
ture. 

April 19, 1834, Mr. James G. Nuttman, a pupil of Rev. 
J. T. Halsey, announced the opening of his school ten days 
later. His terms for Classical Scholars were $8, for Eng- 
lish $5. He had been employed two and a half years in 
Fairchild's Hill-Top School at Mendham, N. J., beginning 
in 1 83 1, and afterwards had been with Dr. Hamilton in 
Newark. He started in the house on the corner of Broad 
and West Grand Sts., once used for the same purpose by 
Miss Gorham. Its site is now occupied by the Banking 
house of the Union County Trust Co. He remained here 
until 1837, when he bought property in Meadow St. (now 
No. 139 Madison Ave.). I find further advertisements un- 
der dates of October 30, 1837; October 21, 1839; October 
26, 1841 ; April 18, 1842, ("the sixteenth session com- 
mences April 26th") and later. He continued until the fall 
of 1854, when failing health obliged him to give up his chos- 
en work. During these years of active service his school, 
which was a day and boarding school combined, attained 
a prominence that made it known far beyond the confines 
of the state and attracted to it scholars from distant parts 
of the country. 

April 3, 1838. Elizabeth W. Harrison opened "a Primary 
School in the building opposite Grand St." 

April 3, 1838. Nancy A. Gale "has commenced a school 
in Washington St., in the house formerly occupied as the 
Lecture room of the First Presbyterian Church." This was 
the old Session House, still standing in Washington St., 
next to Siloam Presbyterian Church, It was built by volun- 



ELIZABETH^S SCHOOL INTERESTS 35 

tary subscriptions in 18 13 and dedicated to public service on 
Sept. 10 of that year, and gave the name of "Session House 
Lane" for many years to the street upon which it fronted. 
The plot of ground was the rear of the First Church par- 
sonage lot, which fronted on what is now West Scott Place. 
It had been abandoned for the purposes of a lecture-room 
when the old Academy on Broad St. was transferred to the 
First Church three years before, and later was used by the 
Female Humane Society to house its- school, until the in- 
corporation of the city in 1855 when, it was taken into the 
public school system. 

April 8, 1838. W. S. Barton came on the field with 
"a select school in the Academy formerly occupied by 
Thomas O. Crane in Jersey St." Crane had moved the 
fall before. Barton did not make a success with his new 
school, for on July 10, 1838, Mr. A. B. Noll "has removed 
his school to the Academy on Jersey St." He taught 
English Branches and referred to Rev. John T. Hal- 
sey. September 24th he added an "Evening School every 
Wednesday and Friday evening until January." Notices of 
this school are found the next year. March 24, 1840, it 
was to be continued for another year, but on March 27, 
1841, appears the offer of the house for sale by Job Crane, 
and the history of the school ends abruptly. 

September 24, 1838. Mr. Frederick W. Foote "gives no- 
tice that he intends opening a school in the basement story 
of Ichabod Ogden's house on Broad St., on Monday, Octo- 
ber 23rd." This location is a part of the site of the present 
Kean building. 

He had been teaching in the North End School House for 
a couple of years, having come from Newtown, Ct., where 
he was born October 23, 1816. His brother, George, was 
teaching in the old stone school house at Lyons Farms. Mr. 
Foote, however, changed his plan as indicated by the adver- 
tisement, and accepted a favorable offer to teach in the 
Academy at Trenton under Mr. Starr. Here he remained 
two years when at the request of many citizens he returned 



36 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

and resumed his place at the North End. He pubHshes his 
intention of "Opening a school on Monday, October 19th, 
1840." Two years later he bought the property, now No. 
287 North Broad St., and built upon the plot the school 
house that sheltered his boys until the fall of 1863. Then 
owing to impaired health, he relinquished teaching and be- 
came editor and part owner, with Mr. James S. Drake of 
the New Jersey Journal. He continued, in charge of this 
paper until his death, which came suddenly in 1879. 

December 17, 1839. J. W. Kellogg is engaged in teach- 
ing at the house of Elihu Morton about a mile from town 
and proposes to open an evening school early in the new 
year. He "has been many years engaged in teaching and 
has been principal of one of the first Academies in New 
York State for ten years." June 23, 1840. He "has taken 
rooms in Union St. and opened a Classical and English 
School." 

March 11, 1840. Miss Hetty Woodruff proposes to open 
a school in Jersey St. on the 13th of April, and will teach 
English Branches, Natural Philosophy, Botany, Latin, 
Greek and Algebra. 

December 13, 1841. Erancis Butler "has opened an 
Evening Class" near the Soap Factory on the Morris Turn- 
pike. Who at this date can fix the location? 

In May, 1845, Mr. Julius A. Fay, a graduate of Williams 
College, opened his "boarding school for boys" in his house 
on Rahway Ave., and continued it in successful operation 
until the fall of 1863, a period of eighteen and a half years 
of honorable service. Mr. Fay removed hither from Balti- 
more, Md., with a previous experience of ten years in 
teaching and his curriculum embraced Greek, Latin and 
French, English and Higher Mathematics. French was 
taught by a native teacher and was largely used in the ordi- 
nary intercourse of the family. 

The house is still standing on Rahway Ave., at its inter- 
section with Grove St., and was known as The Chateau. It 
is of French — Colonial architecture and is distinguished by 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 37 

its handsome pillared front, which attracts the eye of the 
passer-by. Mr. Fay died in 1887. 

April 5, 1847. Miss Sarah B. Davis will open an Enghsh 
School in the house next South of Mr. Joseph Cleveland's. 
September ist of same year she repeated the announce- 
ment. 

April 13, 1847. The summer session of Mrs. Hoyt's 
School for Young Ladies began. French was taught "by 
a native." 

April 27, 1847. A Classical and Mathematical School 
was established at the Corner of Broad and Jersey Streets 
by A. McCollum, A. B., a graduate of Trinity College, Dub- 
Hn, Ireland. 

In the year 1850, or thereabouts Mr. Jonathan Townley 
began a school for boys in a building on East Grand (then 
Mechanic) St., which proved very successful and continued 
under his management until 1861 when Dr. John F. Pingry 
of blessed memory became its head. He continued his work 
until his death which came in February, 1894. His influence 
over his pupils was unusually strong and the school gained 
such a wide reputation that after a lapse of thirty years, his 
friends resolved to perpetuate his name by incorporation. 
A stock company was formed in 189 1 to take over the prop- 
erty and today "The Pingry School" is carrying on its effec- 
tive work as in the years long past with an influence wide 
and far-reaching. The school motto "The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of wisdom" gives the key to the solid foun- 
dation on which the moral superstructure of this school has 
been built during these long and honorable years. 

Advertisements of this period also mention a boys' school 
opened by Mr. N. Sevings Atwood, Sept. i, 185 1, in the 
basement of the M. E. Church, with tuition fees from $4 to 
$8, and October 20, 1851, an English and Classical School 
for Boys, in Water St. (now Elizabeth Ave.), between Miss 
Benton's and Oliver Pierce's, by Rev. E. Bradbury. Tui- 
tion from $5 to $10 per quarter. 



38 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

The Adelphian Academy. 

Upon the site on Elizabeth Avenue now occupied by the 
City Hall, there stood in 1796, a small frame building, old 
and weather-worn, that had served for years as the school 
house for that part of the town. Nobody knew just how 
old it was. Its previous history had been lost or forgotten 
but it had safely passed the troubles of the revolution and 
escaped the torch of the refugee. It was soon to pass away, 
however, yielding to the march of improvement and a desire 
for better things. It was abandoned as a school about the 
year 1800, and later was sold to John Chandler who moved 
it bodily down the Avenue to the tan yards then existing 
near Spring St, Here it was continued in use as a beam 
house until i860, when it was finally torn down. On its 
old site was reared a handsome two-story brick structure 
surmounted by a cupola with finial carrying a ball and 
weather vane. Imbedded in the wall over the main en- 
trance, a free-stone slab bearing in quaint lettering this in- 
scription 

The 

Adelphian 

Academy 

1806, 

told the nature of the work carried on within its walls and 
the date of its erection. The funds for its construction 
were secured by the subscription of stockholders, mostly 
residents of the neighborhood and interested in the main- 
tenance of the school. This building continued in use until 
1865 when it was torn down to make way for the present 
public building. The inscription tablet disappeared for 
years but was brought to light in 1900 and is now preserved 
in the wall of the stairway hall leading to the City offices. 
The finial adorns one of the buildings in the lumber yard 
just across the street. 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 39 

In the records of the Board of School Commissioners un- 
der date of September 6, 1859, ^" entry appears which or- 
ders "that the ball, vane and spire of the Adelphian Acad- 
emy be purchased of Mr. Thompson for Four Dollars and 
placed upon Pub. Sch. House, No. 2." Why this action 
was never consummated does not appear. 

The records of teachers in this school are very incom- 
plete. Isaac Crane was the first to open school in the new 
building. He was succeeded in 181 1 by Joseph Periam who 
had been established elsewhere, for he advertises April t, 
181 1, that he ''has removed his school to the Adelphian 
Academy." He closed it in 1817 and seems to have become 
involved financially, for two years later he appears as an 
applicant for release from imprisonment as an insolvent 
debtor. It was a fashion in those days to lock up a man 
who was unfortunate enough to owe money and so prevent 
him from earning anything with which to discharge his 
debts. He afterwards, April 17, 1826, gives notice that 
"having taken rooms in Grants Row, he will open April 
24th a school for both sexes." He died October i, 1833, ^t 
St. Francisville, La. 

Mr. James Ross who in 1796 had taught at Lyons Farms, 
took charge after Mr. Periam left and continued until 1826. 
He seems to have abandoned teaching for a term of years 
for he advertised keeping groceries from this time on as 
late as 1837, but he returned again to his profession. On 
December 28, 1840, Mr. Ross announces that he "will com- 
mence an Evening School on Monday, January 4, 1841, 
from 6 to 9 o'clock, and a day school on the same day, in 
the lower room of the Adelphian Academy." 

Following him came Mr. Thomas Stickney who had been 
teaching in the Bee-hive schoolhouse, about two miles out 
of town on the Westfield road, near what was then known 
as the Col. Crane place. He was a New England Yankee 
and of good repute as a teacher but only remained about 
two years. In after life he gave up teaching and was en- 
gaged in mercantile business in Troy, N. Y. 



40 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

Then came Mr. Caleb J. Luster in 1828. He had taught 
a year, April 1822-3 at Connecticut Farms, and nearly three 
years more at North End. In 1826 and 1827 he was experi- 
menting with the Lancasterian system at the other Acad- 
emy, but seemed to prefer the old way and dropped into it 
again when he took the reins at the Adelphian in 1828. 
Here he remained in successful and honorable service until 
he retired from the profession in 1845. Some of those who 
came under his instruction still remain, and his children, 
are they not with us even until this day? 

In 1847 Mr. J. Sanford Smith was master in this Acad- 
emy. He probably followed Mr. Luster, and taught three 
or four years. From this place he first went to Newark and 
afterwards to Newton, N. J., the school being absorbed into 
the system of township public schools then being organized 
by the newly elected trustees. 

The North-End School House 

In the northern part of the city at the intersection of 
North Broad St. and Salem Avenue, upon a triangular 
piece of ground shaded by luxuriant forest trees, there 
stood for many years a one-story wooden structure that 
has passed into history as "The North-End School House." 
It was built by subscriptions of the neighborhood, was of the 
usual primitive style of architecture, faced the junction of 
the roads, was surmounted by a cupola in which hung a bell, 
and was furnished at the western end with a fire-place and 
chimney of generous dimensions. The property was deeded 
in 1773 for school purposes by Capt. David Lyon and upon 
the bell this inscription was cast in raised letters, ''A gift 
by Capt. David Lyon 1789 + made by David Ross at Eliza- 
beth Town." 

The first teacher whose name has come down to us was a 
Mr. Moore who wielded the birch in 1795. Two years lat- 
er the name of Mr. Holley appears, only to remain a brief 
year and then to give place to Joseph Nesbit. 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 41 

In 1800 a Mr. Rogers, whose reputation as "a fine rrmn" 
still shines like a halo through the misty years of the past 
century, ascended the throne and remained a year. His fine 
qualities no doubt secured for him a better position else- 
where. He was followed in 1801 by Mr. James Ross, who 
continued his work until the spring of 1808, when he was 
called to the charge of the Academy on Broad St. 

Under date of May 29th, 1809, the following advertise- 
ment appears, "Rectangular and Geometrical Surveying, 
Navigation, The Lunar Observations, according to the latest 
improvements, Arithmetic, Book-keeping, English Gram- 
mar, Reading, Writing and Spelling are carefully and rea- 
sonably taught by George Kinne, 

North End." 

May II, 1812, Miles French ''respectfully informs the in- 
habitants of the North End of Elizabeth Town that he has 
opened a school in said place where he will teach the various 
branches of English Literature." 

At this period also appear the names of David Young, af- 
terwards well known as "The Almanac Man," from his as- 
tronomical calculations, and Mr. Grummon and a Mr. 
Haines whose front names have disappeared in the mist. 
They come in the order named, but the length of their re- 
spective terms of service are unknown. 

In 1823 Mr. Caleb J. Luster who had been teaching for a 
year at Connecticut Farms came to the North End and re- 
mained until 1826, when he took charge of a gchool in the 
town. 

Following soon after were Mr. Henry W. Chandler and 
Mr. Morgan Stewart, neither of whom have left any visible 
"foot-prints on the shores of time" for the enlightenment of 
other generations, and then in 1836 by Mr. Frederick W. 
Foote, a young man not yet attained to his majority. An 
older brother was teaching at Lyons' Farms and it was 
probably this fact that led him to come from his Connecti- 
cut home and settle here. He remained at the North End 
two years and then accepted a position at Trenton. 



42 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

In the winter of 1839 Mr. B. G. Northrop, in later years 
the well-known and highly-esteemed Superintendent of 
Public Schools of the State of Connecticut filled a term of 
five or six months, and Mr. Ezra Darby came in for the 
succeeding year. 

In the fall of 1840 Mr. Foote returned and remained for 
two years more. 

Mr. Shepard Kollock is reported to have followed Mr. 
Foote and was probably the last teacher to conduct a private 
pay school in the old building. In 1848 it passed under the 
control of the Trustees of the Public Schools and became 
known as District No. 3. 

I note the appointment of Miss Jerusha Parker April 23, 
1857, ^s teacher of this district school and her continuance 
as such until February 6, 1861. On that date Miss Caroline 
D. Luster took the position and was in charge until the 
close of the term, when the school was discontinued by vote 
of the Board Aug. 31, 1861, and the building soon after 
torn down. 

With its passing there also goes into history a story of 
the early days, that is somewhat shrouded in mystery and 
yet is too intensely tragic to be omitted from these annals. 
It is commonly reported among those versed in the folk- 
lore of the neighborhood that once upon a time a pair of 
young men who were returning to town after an unsucces- 
ful hunting expedition sought to ease their disappointment 
by firing at a mark. For the purposes of a target they used 
the broad door of the school house. Hearing groans as of 
a person in mortal agony, they hastily burst open the door, 
only to find that their bullets had passed entirely through 
the thin pine board and struck the teacher, who had tarried 
after hours to arrange some work for the morrow. It is 
sad to think that a man should meet such a fate while en- 
tirely in the line of such a peaceful duty. It is also sad to 
reflect that not a name of any of the participants in the trag- 
edy, nor a date, nor anything definite save the bare unveri- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 43 

fied tradition has been preserved to enliven and verify the 
page of the historian! 

The Female Humane Society. 

Early in the century, the problem of dealing with the chil- 
dren of people in such indigent circumstances that they 
could not afford to pay for tuition, engaged the attention of 
the benevolent people of the town. The first organized ef- 
fort, although in a small and feeble way, appears in the an- 
nual report of The Female Humane Society, published Nov. 
II, 181 1. It says *The Managers have paid from their 
funds $25 for the schooling of such children as would other- 
wise have been left to run at large in the streets and con- 
tinue in ignorance ; a further sum of $25 is yet due to the 
Instructress," They "cannot fail to suggest the propriety 
of providing places in different schools for such as are of 
sufficient age to attend through the winter." The report is 
signed by Jane I. Dayton, First Directress, and Maud S. 
Smith, Secretary. 

The next year (1812) "the school under their care uni- 
formly consists of 30 children at present" and "the Mana- 
gers are now at the expense of a constant teacher." 

November 8, 1813, at 'The Third Anniversary Meeting" 
the tuition of the school for the year had cost $100 and the 
other school expenses had been $31.29. 

We take a long step across intervening years to Sept. 15, 
1829, when the Managers decide to "confine Instruction to 
Females only. The school will consist of thirty girls who 
will receive Instruction and two suits of clothing annually, 
if means are provided." Mention is made that the teaching 
of boys had proved to be a failure ! 

Another long step and we find the work still going on in 
1855, when after the incorporation of the city, the new 
Board of School Comm. paid the managers $100 for teach- 
ing services, and assumed charge of the school as a part of 
the public system. The building was rented by the Board 



44 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

and the school continued until May, 1859, when, it was 
transferred to the new P. S. No. 2, then just completed. A 
proposition to install the colored school in the old building 
aroused strong opposition, for in the minutes of May 3d, we 
read "The Female Humane Society desires to release the 
Board from any liability for rent for the Washington St. 
Schoolhouse after May ist, in preference to having the Col- 
ored School occupy the building." The olive branch was ac- 
cepted, and peace again reigned supreme. 

The Free School Association. 

Nov. 20, 1815, a Sunday School for Blacks was opened. 
The Elizabeth Town Free School Association was formed, 
and did good work among the colored people and the chil- 
dren of the poor. Four years later it reported that it was 
caring for three schools, one for white boys under charge 
of Edward Sanderson, Supt., with an average attendance of 
64 pupils — another for white boys. Miss Mary Dows Supt., 
with an attendance varying from 60 to 80 and the third, a 
school for colored children and adults, under Oliver Nutt- 
man, Supt., averaging 65 in attendance. The pupils were 
organized into small classes, each in charge of a teacher and 
were taught the Bible, catechism, hymns, texts of scripture, 
spelling and reading. The sessions were held on Sunday 
when first organized, but the necessity for the work was so 
apparent that they were soon changed into week day schools. 
The Free School Association continued its beneficent work 
until some years after the granting of the City charter, 
when the schools were absorbed by the public school system. 
The purpose for which the association was formed appears 
to have been held in view steadily during these years for 
on May 11, 1847, notice is given that "there will be an ex- 
amination of colored scholars at their school-room in Jersey 
Street at two o'clock P. M." Miss Parmela Price was in 
charge. The class numbered about thirty-five and met, in a 
house back of Stephen Pierson's grocery store. The work 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 45 

of this association was conducted under discouragement and 
public indifference and the founders and supporters deserve 
high praise for their steadfast devotion to duty in the self- 
imposed and self-denying task of elevating a race whose an- 
cestors had tilled the soil of our state as slaves and who 
were despised and outcast among men. So strong was this 
prejudice that as late as 1859, when it was proposed to 
transfer this colored school, then under charge of the Board 
of School Comm., to the building hired from the Female 
Humane Society, the Society volunteered to release the 
Board from liability for rent, rather than have the colored 
school occupy the building! And a further proposition to 
place the school, in the vacant rooms of the Adelphian 
Academy aroused a storm of protest that was only quelled 
by the acceptance of an offer from Dr. Murray of the use 
of a building in Union St., on condition that the Board keep 
it in repair as compensation for its use. Again Peace reigned ! 

The Lancasterian System. 

On October 7, 1818, Mr. Joseph Lancaster delivered a 
popular lecture in the Court House on the advantages of 
his system of Education which was, briefly stated, the prin- 
ciple of managing and instructing a school through the me- 
dium of the scholars themselves, acting as monitors. Like 
many other things, before and since, the subject seems to 
have attracted considerable attention for a few years, and 
then to have sunk into oblivion. It owed its origin to Rev. 
Andrew Bell, D. D., who being in charge of a school for 
the education of English officers' children at Madras, India, 
in 1795, found himself unable to obtain proper assistance 
and hit upon the expedient of using his brightest pupils as 
monitors to hear lessons, observe deportment, mark attend- 
ance, etc. The idea was taken up by Mr. Lancaster and 
claimed as his own and became known as the Madras, the 
Mutual, the Monitorial or the Lancasterian System. It had 
been adopted with considerable success in England and 



46 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

Germany, and was particularly attractive to educators who 
already were beginning to agitate the need of education for 
all ranks and conditions of men. Especially would this be 
the case in a new country like ours where, in addition to 
combatting class prejudices, the necessity of economy was 
specially pressing. There was no money to waste and if, 
by the new method, one teacher could care for five or six 
times as many scholars more than under the ordinary plan, 
was it not a great gain in practical efficiency at no increase 
of cost? This was probably the reason for its adoption in 
the public schools which began to come into existence soon 
after, following an agitation for the education of the chil- 
dren of the poor. 

In the Journal of January 9, 1827, "Crito" in an article of 
some length, advocates the Lancasterian System, first es- 
tablished in this country at Georgetown, D. C., and esti- 
mated that, in the August preceding, it had already been 
adopted by twelve schools with an attendance of nearly 600 
scholars. 

At a town meeting held March 20, 1827, report was made 
that $200 had been appropriated at the previous annual 
Town Meeting ''to educate the children of the poor of the 
township" — that the Elizabeth Town Public School Asso- 
ciation had been in operation about eighteen months, and 
had conducted "for about fifteen months a School on the 
Lancasterian or Monitorial System." This report impressed 
the people so favorably that at the next meeting held April 
9th the amount for the current year was increased fifty per 
cent, and the magnificent sum of $3cx:> was appropriated ; but 
it was "for schools of poor children." 

The subject was not long to be confined to such a narrow 
field. Popular education, general instruction, public schools 
for all, a uniform system throughout the state, these were 
the phrases that were heard from the lips of men and 
found echo in the columns of the press. Public interest was 
aroused, meetings were held, lecturers discoursed, statistics 
were collected, legislation was asked for and the solid base 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 47 

of our present magnificent system of free schools was laid 
broad and deep. 

In September, 1828, "A Friend of Education" in a long 
and well written newspaper article, which ehcited a highly 
complimentary mention by the editor, rejoices ''that the sub- 
ject is every day exciting more and more the attention of 
the intelligent people of this state. Efforts are now making 
in every county of New Jersey to collect and arrange facts 
which will exhibit the condition of schools throughout the 
entire state." He hopes that it will soon be possible to ob- 
tain ''such an education as ought to be acquired in our Com- 
mon Schools, that is, Schools in which an English Education 
is acquired in contradistinction from those schools in which 
Latin and Grammar are taught." 

The Beginning of Public Schools. 

Let us now turn back a few years. February 12, 181 7, 
the Legislature passed "an Act to create a fund for the sup- 
port of free schools" throughout the state, and set apart for 
that purpose sundry stocks and securities owned by the state 
amounting in value to $87,076.38. To this was to be added 
"one-tenth of all moneys to be hereafter raised by tax for 
the use of the State." This was the beginning of our school 
fund and was conceived in a very liberal spirit. It has 
since been augmented at various times in different ways, 
most notable of which was the setting apart for this fund 
of the proceeds of all sales and rentals of land under water 
belonging to the state, which is commonly known as the Ri- 
parian Fund. This legislation was had April 6, 1871, and 
swelled the fund to large proportions. 

Singularly enough in establishing the fund, legislature 
omitted to provide for its administration, and a whole year 
passed before trustees were appointed to manage and dis- 
tribute it. This was done by act of February 12, 1818, 
when the Governor, the Vice-President of the Council, the 
Speaker of the Assembly and the Attorney General and 
4 



48 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

their successors were appointed, under the name of "The 
Trustees for the support of Free Schools." 

A year later, Feb. i8, 1819, they were instructed as to 
the investment of the income of the fund. 

With such a broad provision for the support of schools 
we would naturally suppose that the agitation going on 
would have resulted in some practical establishment at a 
very early date following the creation of the fund, but it 
was not until ten or more years had passed that anything 
definite was done. By act of March 5, 1828, the taxes on 
banking, insurance and other corporations were transferred 
to the fund for the support of schools, and at the next meet- 
ing of Legislature *'An act to establish Common Schools" 
passed Feb. 24, 1829, provided that the Trustees of the fund 
should appropriate $20,000 and divide it among the coun- 
ties ; the Chosen Freeholders were to divide their county's 
share among the townships ; the townships could raise ad- 
ditional sums and choose a committee to license teachers. 
Each school district should choose ''three discreet persons" 
as trustees, who should provide room, employ teachers, and 
make a list of children between the ages of 4 and 16 years, 
etc., etc. 

Under the stimulus of this act, on April 6, 1829, the 
Trustees of the Fund for Free Schools appropriated $20,000 
for all the schools throughout the State. Of this modest 
sum, the share of Essex County in which Elizabeth then be- 
longed, was $1,911.02. 

There were reformers in those days, even as now. In July 
and August, 1830, a Mr. Brewster lectured on common 
school education, treating especially of the defects of the 
present system and the advantages of a new style of in- 
struction. A hint as to the trend of his thought may be 
found in his motto ''Ideas, not words merely." 

September 30, 1830. The school committee had divided 
the township of Elizabeth, and advertised an election of 
trustees. 

November 15, 1830. The Committee have returns of the 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



49 



number of children between four and sixteen years of age. 
The districts, number of scholars and apportionment of 
funds are as follows, viz : 

Dist. No. I. 39 Scholars, $17.76 





' 2. 82 




37-28 




' 4- 30 




13-67 




' 5- 50 




22.77 




' 6. 193 


„» 


9774 




' 7- 134 




60.93 




' 8. 195 




88.54 




' 9. 181 




82.31 



Total 904 



$411.00 



District No. 3 was attached to Union township by ex- 
change of scholars received in Nos. i and 2. 

This report was signed by John McDowell, Chairman. 

At the Town Meeting April 11, 183 1, among the interest- 
ing questions discussed were ''Shall money be raised for the 
support of common schools?" and "Shall the money appro- 
priated by the state be used for the general benefit, or for 
the particular benefit of the children of the poor?" Strange 
how the class feeling made itself so persistently apparent ! 

June 26, 1837. Messrs. Edward Sanderson, Keen Pru- 
den, Elias Darby and Ezra Cleveland, School Committee, 
announce "that the apportionment of school money has by a 
vote of the township been apportioned exclusively to the ed- 
ucation of the children of the poor," and they wish to have 
a list of those "who are entitled to share in the public boun- 
ty." The amount available is not named but we cannot im- 
agine that it was any very considerable sum. 

December 18, 1837, a public meeting was held to consider 
the subject of Common School Education. This branch of 
public welfare had by this time thoroughly engrossed the 
attention of citizens all over the state and much interest was 
developed in the matter. Meetings were also held in Mor- 



50 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

ristown, Belleville, Orange, Rahway, Bloomfield and other 
large towns in this vicinity, and public attention was di- 
rected to the necessity for a broad and comprehensive plan 
that should embrace in its scope the children of all the peo- 
ple, the well-to-do and the rich as well as the poor. So 
general was this interest and so deeply did it take hold upon 
public sentiment that the Legislature of the State on the 
1st day of March, 1838, passed an act to establish public 
schools which has been the basis upon which they have risen 
in these later years to their high position among the schools 
of the nation. By this act the Trustees of the School fund 
were ordered to appropriate $30,000 and divide it pro rata 
among the counties of the state. In addition to this, town- 
ships were empowered to raise additional sums by taxation, 
if desired. 

On February 13, 1838, another meeting was held in the 
session room of the First Presbyterian Church and a Com- 
mittee was appointed to report the condition of the schools. 

On June 10, 1838, the Committee reported that it had set 
off the Town into eight districts. This was in pursuance of 
the provisions of the act passed three months before. It 
was a quick response and attests the eagerness of the towns- 
people to avail themselves of the provisions of the new law. 

But the sun was not yet in mid-heaven. Day had but 
just dawned. There was much to be done, in many ways, 
before the aspirations of the friends of general education 
would be met. Two strong obstacles were encountered ; 
the lack of competent teachers, and the opposition of the pri- 
vate school. I can do no better than to quote from The 
Report of the Trustees of the School Fund for 1840. They 
say: 

"The influence of private elementary schools is certainly 
unfriendly to the improvement of our public schools. They 
draw off from them much of that nourishment which is es- 
sential to their growth. They divert from them much of 
the interest and patronage of the public. And yet when we 
take in consideration the low state of many of our public 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 51 

schools, and the utter incompetency of their teachers, the 
existence of these private schools is hardly to be regretted. 
Nor could parents, who can afford the expense, be censured 
for sending their children to the latter as long as the former 
hold out so few inducements. But the Trustees indulge the 
earnest hope, that the Legislature will not relax their ef- 
forts, nor the friends of education withhold their aid until 
our public schools shall be placed upon such a footing as to 
supercede entirely the necessity for private ones; until they 
shall be so elevated in their condition, that the richest, as 
well as the poorest man in the community, shall be proud to 
send his children to them." Thank God ! their ''earnest 
hope" has materiaHzed. And yet, even, as late as 1872, a 
newspaper item, in mentioning the very creditable examina- 
tions that had been held in Pub. Sch. Nos. i and 2, says that 
"when the Public Schools became the system, these teachers 
will receive the appreciation so justly due them." 

For many years the district schools labored under this 
stigma of being conducted for the children of the poor only. 
Attendance upon them was considered prima facia evidence 
of inability to pay the necessary fees for instruction and so 
low in the estimation of the rich and well-to-do were they 
held that it was considered desirable to locate the buildings 
that sheltered them, as far as possible on side streets in the 
less attractive portions of the town. 

The sixth census of the United States, taken in 1840 
throws some dry statistical light upon the general subject in 
the following table. 

Population of Elizabeth Town, white folk 3906 
Population of Elizabeth Town, colored folk 278 

Total population 4184 

Number of Academies and Grammar Schools 3 

Number of Scholars attending them 150 

Number of Primary and Common Schools. 10 

Number of Scholars attending them 393 

Number of Scholars at public charge 60 



52 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

April 17, 1846, the school law was revised and the office 
of Township School Superintendent was created, the in- 
cumbent to be elected at the annual town meeting. 

Under the Township Law. 

Under this law, the First Annual Meeting of the taxable 
inhabitants of School District No. 2, was held on April 5th, 
1847, ^'is honor the Mayor, Elias Darby, and Messrs. John 
Chatterton, Charles Davis, Meline W. Halsey and Thomas 
S. Day, being elected Trustees. Mr. Wm. F. Day, a very 
prominent lawyer of the town was chosen superintendent. 

On the 31st May, 1847, it was announced that 'The next 
Quarter of District School No. 2 (formerly known as The 
Massie School) will commence," etc. This was signed by 
J. S. Smith, teacher. The "Massie School" had taken its 
name from a bequest of $5,000 made by Mr. Peter Massie, 
who died in 1840, of funds, in trust, to the pastors of the 
First and Second Presbyterian Churches, who at this date 
were Dr. Nichcflas Murray and Dr. David Magie, for the 
purposes of general education of the needy poor. It was 
conducted in a building on East Jersey St. next to the lec- 
ture room of the Third Presbyterian Church. In August, 
1874, the building was moved to Olive St., near Spring St., 
where it still exists as a part of the Hope Chapel of West- 
minster Presbyterian Church. The school had been discon- 
tinued in 1862, and with the approval of the Chancellor of 
the State the fund was passed to the managers of the Eliza- 
beth Orphan Asylum for the education of the inmates of 
that institution and appears regularly in their annual re- 
ports. In the following autumn, Sept. 13, 1847, another 
quarter was begun, in The Adelphian Academy, the school 
being transferred from its old rooms in Jersey St. 

March 17, 1848, we get the first authentic and definite lo- 
cations of the various districts in the town, as set oflF by the 
committee. Notice was given of the election to be held 
on April 3 for school Trustees of the several school districts 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 53 

in the township of EHzabeth. Polls would be opened as 
follows, viz : 

District No. i at the Elizabethport Church. This building 
stood on the N. E. side of Marshall St., midway be- 
tween First and Second St., was known as the Mar- 
shall St. Presbyterian Church for many years, but was 
altered into dwellings in 1902. 

District No. 2 at the Adelphian Academy, (see pg. 38). 

District No. 3 at the North End School House (see pg. 40). 

District No. 4 at School House in Winans Neighborhood. 

District No. 5 at Wheat Sheaf School House (on Rahway 
road). 

District No. 6 at Cedar Grove School House (in Elmora 
section). 

The notice is signed by William F. Day, Town Supt., of 
Elizabeth Township. Mr. Day was an eminent attorney 
and counsellor at law, who had so commanded the confi- 
dence of his fellow citizens that he passes into history as 
the first superintendent of public schools in this city. It is 
pleasing to know that he was re-elected on April 10, 1848, 
for another year. The public school fund apportioned to 
Essex Co. for the year 1848 was $2,664.90 of which $211.77 
was the share that fell to the town. 

Under this administration a public school was opened 
Aug. 6, 1850, at the corner of Harrison & Crane Sts., under 
the charge of Miss Susan M. Stiles, as principal. This was 
continued until 1859, soon after the new school building No. 
2 on Morrell St., was completed. Miss Stiles, then engaged 
in private teaching until 1875 when she re-entered public 
service as principal of a primary school, on Morris Ave., 
which continued until 1885. This school was merged into No. 
4 on Cherry St., which was opened on December 10, of that 
year, and, in which she continued to serve as Vice-Principal 
until her resignation, in 1896. 

Mention must also be made of Miss Susan P. Mulford's 



I, 


390 


2, 


1075 


3, 


66 


4, 


55 


5, 


42 



54 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

School for young ladies, in the usual English Branches and 
Latin, opened in Sept. 185 1, and continuing until 1873 when 
she, too, took position under the Board of School Commis- 
sioners as Vice-Principal of No. 2 in Morrell St., to be ad- 
vanced the next year as principal of No. 5 in West Jersey St. 
April 14, 185 1, an annual Town Meeting was held at 
which the sum of $2,000 was voted to be raised by tax for 
schools and Dr. Josiah Q. Stearns, was elected Supt. May 
13, 185 1, the census of children of school age (5-18) 
showed in 

District No. 

District No. 

District No. 

District No. 

District No. 
Total 1638, (sic) as against 1365 between 5 and 16 years 
old, the previous year. 

April 12, 1852, at the Town Meeting the same amount of 
tax was voted, and the report of school Dist. No. 2, showed 
that three schools for white male children, and two for 
white females had been opened during the year and one for 
colored children for three quarters of that time. Enroll- 
ment "about 450 — average attendance about 350." One 
teacher and two assistants were in the school in Washing- 
ton St., originally instituted by the Female Humane Society, 
two teachers and one assistant in two schools, in the Adel- 
phian Academy, the same number in the Harrison St. school 
and one in the Colored school. Total expense for the year 
was $2,081.55. 

April nth, 1853, $2,000 was again voted and Dr. Wil- 
liam M. Whitehead was elected Supt. of the Township for 
the coming year. The same number and arrangement of 
schools in District No. 2 prevailed. Enrollment 480, average 
attendance 410. The report of Dr. Stearns, Supt. for the 
Township showed five districts, as before with an increased 
enrollment, viz : 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 55 

District No. i, Industrial, 420 

District No. 2, Industrial, 1241 

District No. 3, Industrial, 70 

District No. 4, Industrial, 54 

District No. 5, Industrial, 42 



Total 1827 

"Number of children who have attended school is more 
than double that in 185 1." Expenses for the year, $3,378.69. 

April 10, 1854, at Town Meeting Dr. W. A. Whitehead 
was re-elected Supt., $3,000 was voted for school purposes 
and things moved on as before. Mention is made of the 
report of the Supt. for the previous year, but no details 
are given. It is to be particularly noted that the above 
figures refer almost exclusively to Public School District 
No. 2, which comprised the heart of the borough of Eliza- 
bethtown. Districts 3, 4, and 5, had so few scholars as 
to attract no special notice, and presumably were left to 
struggle on as best they could with the aid of the miserable 
pittance apportioned to them from the state fund. There 
are no records of these districts, extant. 

School District No. i was at Elizabeth Port, two miles 
and a half away from the center of the Town with which 
infrequent communication was had by means of the railroad 
and Wm. Townley's Stage. It was left to shift for itself 
and does not enter into the above statistics except as an in- 
tegral part of the Township. 

Let us now see what was being done down there. The 
school law of 1846 which changed the basis of apportion- 
ment of state funds from property valuation to ratio of 
population and permitted the districts to incorporate and 
assess a tax for school purposes, was further modified by a 
supplement, approved March 14, 1851. Under its provisions 
David Naar, John H. Rolston and Richard Stewart, the 
Trustees of school District No. i, together with Josiah Q. 
Stearns, the township superintendent of schools, incorpor- 



56 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

ated under the name of the Industrial School District. The 
boundaries of this district included substantially the terri- 
tory in the lower part of the present city, below the New 
Point Road and Sixth street, east of First Ave., and the 
certificate bears date May i6th, 1851. 

This large tract of land as far East as the present line of 
Pine St., had been purchased by a company of wealthy New 
York gentlemen headed by Edward Kellogg, Esq., who had 
surveyed and laid out the town in 1835 under the caption of 
"The New Manufacturing Town of Elizabeth Port." It 
was distinctively a land operation, quite in the line of those 
that have been so notable in recent years and was accom- 
panied by the building of five large double houses and a 
huge hotel in the vicinity of Broadway and Front St. which 
at that time was the terminus of th^ railroad from Somer- 
ville, and the point of departure of the Steamboats Cinder- 
ilia and Water Witch, for New York. All the houses are 
still standing but the hotel long ago succumbed to the flames. 

At this time there was a small school held in the base- 
ment of the Presbyterian Church on Marshall St., between 
First and Second, which had its origin in one, established in 
1840 by Augustus Rogers, who advertised its opening on 
September 15th of that year and which was continued by 
Miss Sophronia Marsh, in the old Foundry Building, still 
standing much altered and now known as No. 34, 36 and 38. 
First St. On the completion of the new church. Miss Marsh 
moved her school to the basement. She was assisted by a 
Mr. Dean, for a time and then by Mrs. Chase. She was 
followed by Mr. Hunter, then by Mr. Craig. In the fall 
of 1846, Mr. Charles Goodwin Clark, took charge and con- 
tinued until April, 185 1, with the exception of one term in 
1849 when his place was filled by a Mr. Proctor. At the 
beginning of Mr. Clark's service the school had about 50 
pupils. The salary when he left in 185 1, to accept a posi- 
tion in Newark, was estimated at $450 per year, a portion 
of which was paid by the state, and the remainder, by the 
pupils who were charged two dollars per quarter. 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 57 

This arrangement, by which the cost of tuition was in 
part borne by parents who were able to pay for their chil- 
dren's instruction, had been in vogue also in the other dis- 
tricts of the township, but was abandoned after this present 
year and the schools henceforth became entirely free. 

The new trustees assumed charge at once and engaged 
Mr. N. W. Haight, as principal until the fall term of 185 1 
when Mr. A. Cone, assisted by Mrs. Chase, was installed. 
The report of April 5, 1852, shows that the quota of state 
money was $2-23.60 and that of the township tax was 
$479.80. This total of $703.40 seems to have been applied 
to current expenses. In addition to this, a special district 
tax of $416.93 was collected as the nucleus of a new build- 
ing fund. 

During the year 1852 Mr. Cone, continued at the head, 
but with three assistants. Miss Harriet E. Baldwin, Miss 
Mary E. Woodruff and Miss Elizabeth Webb, as the num- 
ber of pupils had rapidly increased. The state apportion- 
ment this year was $223.65 and the township tax yielded 
$459.90 a total of $683.55. No district tax was assessed, 
but as the New Manf. Town of Elizabethport, under the 
provisions of the city charter March 13, 1855, lost its identi- 
ty and became merged with the old town into the City of 
Elizabeth, the district tax of 185 1, — the only one ever laid in 
the district — was invested in three building lots, a plot of 
ground 75x100 feet on the north side of Franklin St., 
midway between Second and Third Sts. At this writing 
(1911) the lots are there still — very still. 

Problem : what is the present value of the plot calculated 
on cost, with accumulated simple interest for the sixty 
years during which it has lain idle? 

This teaching corps remained undisturbed until the spring 
of 1853 when Mr. Cone, Miss Baldwin and Miss Webb, dis- 
appeared from the field of action and their places were 
filled by Mr. Wm. Thomas, Mrs. Amelia E. Hutchinson 
and Miss E. L. Hutchinson. These three only taught one- 
quarter each, for the next payroll shows three new names, 



58 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

viz: Mr. John Cooley, Miss Mary E. Woodruff and Miss 
Catharine H. Johnson. These in turn continued until the 
spring term of 1854. Then Mr. Charles G. Sherwood and 
Miss Jeannette S. Baldwin, replaced the first two names. 
Miss Johnson continuing one more term when she gave way 
for a single term to Miss Ellen F. Williams. 

At the fall term in 1854 Mr. George W. Burr took his 
place as principal with Miss Jeannette S. Baldwin and Miss 
Rachel Cleveland as assistants, and these so continued until 
the care of the schools, by the provision of the new city 
charter passed under the control of the Board of Commis- 
sioners of Public Schools, March 13, 1855. 

From the Granting of the City Charter March 
13, 1855. 

From this date it is easy to follow the growth of the pub- 
lic school system. Districts disappeared, "Town and Port" 
became one. An era of consolidation was at hand and every- 
thing pointed to development in every line of public activity. 
Nor were the schools slow to receive the impulse. On April 
13, 1855, just one month later, the first meeting of the new 
Board of School Commissioners for the new city, elected 
April 9th was held, his Honor the Mayor, Elias Darby, pre- 
siding as ex-officio member. The three wards of the city 
were represented, by 

Jonathan M. Ropes and William J. Tenney, ist ward. 
Dr. Job S. Crane and Benjamin Ogden, 2d ward. 
J. Harvey Corey and Dr. A. W. Kingsley, 3d ward. 

the first-named in each case having been chosen to serve two 
years and the other, one year. Mr. J. M. Ropes was elected 
President, and Mr. J. H. Corey, Secretary, of the Board, 
and at a later meeting, Mr. W. J. Tenney was chosen super- 
intendent for the remainder of the year. 

On June 13th the Board made its first report to the City 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 59 

Council. By it, it was shown that there were 675 children 
of school age (5 to 18) in the ist ward, which embraced 
the downtown district. Two rooms seating 190 were in 
use, in the basement of the Presbyterian Church on Mar- 
shall St., and one room on Elizabeth Ave., just below Fifth 
St., accommodating 50 or 60. 290 pupils in all were regis- 
tered and 240 in average attendance. The end of the block 
between Fulton and East Jersey St. on Third St., compris- 
ing ten lots had been purchased for $1000. 

In the 2d and 3d wards, covering the up-town district, 
there were between iioo and 1200 children. Six schools 
were in operation all of primary grade ; two for white boys, 
three for white girls and one for colored children. The reg- 
istration was about 450 and the average attendance 350. 
These six "schools" embraced the one on Crane and Harri- 
son St. — one in Adelphian Academy, one at North End, one 
in the Winans neighborhood, the Colored School in Wash- 
ington St. and one at Wheat Sheaf, on the Rahway Road. 
This first official report goes on to say that **The Board is 
driven to confess with much mortification that there is not, 
according to their knowledge a city within the United States 
which is so deficient in public school accommodation as our 
own." They forgot that the chicken had just broken out 
of its shell! 

September 4, 1855, contracts were let for the new build- 
ing. Public School, No. i, on the plot just mentioned. The 
amount named was $8,414.00 and the building was sup- 
posed to be a model one for the times. It was three stories 
high, with flat roof and no basement, the first floor being 
level with the ground. The writer recalls, that, so thinly 
settled was that particular locality, the trenches for the 
foundations were cut through a dense growth of bushes 
and stunted trees so high that the work could not be seen 
until one was directly upon it. It contained six separate 
class rooms and three large rooms, each with two recita- 
tion rooms attached, to which classes were sent out to an 
under teacher. It was opened for use May 12, 1856. Re- 



6o ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

arranged and added to from time to time, it was made to 
serve its purpose until 1896 when it gave way to the present 
No. I on East Jersey St., between Second and Third St., 
and was taken down and the land sold. The new building is 
the largest school house in the city. It contains 30 class 
rooms, with 1500 sittings for pupils and was dedicated Sept. 
7, 1896, at a cost approximately of $60,000. 

The erection of Public School, No. 2, in Morrell St. was 
not begun until 1858 although in the summer of 1855 a plot 
of ground at the corner of East Jersey St. and Jefferson 
Ave. had been purchased from John Wyman for $600. In 
April, 1858, it was "given up to the city council," presuma- 
bly having been found unsuitable in some way for the pur- 
pose intended. April 21, 1858, at the meeting of the Board, 
it was announced that a suitable plot of ground had been 
secured on Morrell St., and on August 4th the contract for 
the building was let, price $10,755.00 and $470 additional 
for the tower. This building was also of brick, but of dif- 
ferent style and plan from No. i being only two stories high 
but of larger area, and having a basement in which hot air 
furnaces for heating were placed. This building, enlarged 
and re-arranged in 1880 and 1884 and largely increased in 
capacity by the addition of two large wings in 1899 is still 
in active service. 

For a considerable number of years these two schools 
served to accommodate the demand in the thickly populated 
sections of the city, but the increasing growth especially in 
the center, at the Cross-roads, now known as Union Square 
led to the erection in 1872 of Public School, No. 3, on High 
St. and Second Ave. The nucleus of this school had been 
meeting for a short time previously in the basement of the 
German M. E. Church (now St. Anthony R. C. Church) in 
Centre St. The two ends of the city were being linked to- 
gether solidly. The new structure was also of brick and 
was supposed to embody all the features that had been 
found by practical experience to be desirable, but in the 
light of recent progress and scientific development it has 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 6i 

been found so unsuitable and unsanitary that it has recently 
been replaced by another much larger and more modern. It 
was opened for school uses Sept. i, 1873, ^tnd demolished in 
1909 after thirty-six years service, the new one being 
opened in September of that year. 

In 1867 a small one-room frame building was erected on 
Catherine St., north of East Grand St., for the special ac- 
commodation of colored children and was continued as 
such for a number of years, under, the charge of a single 
teacher. The class of attendants gradually changed and it 
took its place in the records of the Board as Public School, 
No. 4, until 1877 when it was permanently closed on ac- 
count of diminished patronage and the comparatively heavy 
per-capita expense of maintaining it. 

Public School, No. 5, was organized as a further relief 
to the school in Morrell St., in April, 1873, in the old Bap- 
tist Church on West Jersey St., near Broad, which was 
leased for the purpose at an annual rent of $800. The 
building was divided into five class-rooms and was made to 
serve its purpose until 1885 when the erection of the large 
school-house on Cherry St., made its use no longer neces- 
sary. 

Until the year 1873 the school interests of the city were 
administered by an elected body known as the Board of 
School Commissioners, but a change in legislation early 
that year organized them into a Board of Education, with 
more extended power, larger privileges and greater respon- 
sibilities, more especially with reference to the control of 
public property and the expenditures of city funds for 
school purposes. 

In 1866 the Morris Avenue Primary School Association 
was formed by a number of residents of that locality and 
a handsome little house was built on that avenue well out 
to the city line, for the accommodation of their little ones 
who were at a long distance from the Morrell St. school. 
The association was finely conceived for the convenience 



62 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

and betterment of the neighborhood, but did not prove to 
be a financial success. In 1875 ^^e building was leased by 
the Board and opened in September as a primary school 
known as Public School, No. 6. This was continued until 
1885 when it was transferred to the new No. 4, then just 
completed, the building itself being destroyed by fire March 
20, of that year. 

The corner stone of the present Public School, No. 4, was 
laid on the 2d of December, 1884, and the building dedi- 
cated December 10, 1885. It stands on Cherry St. near 
Westfield Ave. and is a neat and substantial structure. Be- 
sides accommodating primary and grammar grades, it also 
houses the Normal and Training School of the city which, 
first organized in 1888 and re-organized and re-arranged in 
September, 1907, furnishes a two-year course of instruction 
in school work and management to student-teachers of the 
city before they enter upon their permanent work. This 
very important wheel in our school system demonstrates 
its necessity and its worth by supplying a body of theoreti- 
cally trained helpers from which permanent appointments 
to the regular teaching force are made. 

From this point the progress of our city in the matter 
of school building is well defined and has advanced by rapid 
strides. The steady growth of the city has made additions 
to the accommodations so necessary that it has been hard to 
keep pace with the demands from year to year and despite 
the additions, the rooms are full and temporary expedients 
have at times been found necessary. 

In 1889 the present school, No. 5, on Fourth St. between 
South Park and Court St., was opened as a six-room school 
and enlarged by the addition of wings containing eight 
rooms, in 1903. It was quickly followed by No. 6 situated 
on Julia St. and Adams Ave., which was dedicated to pub- 
lic use May 23, 1890. 

On September 7, 1892, No. 7, on Grier Ave. and Grove 
St., was put into service, and one year later, No. 8, located 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 63 

on Sixth St. between Franklin and Fulton St., opened its 
doors to the rapidly increasing population about Union 
Square. The capacity of this building was further in- 
creased by the addition of a wing in 1903. This, despite the 
fact that in September, 1900, No. 9, one of the largest and 
best appointed of the buildings owned by the city, located 
on Jaques St. near Elizabeth Avenue, had been dedicated 
by suitable ceremonies and opened for use. 

The corner stone of No. 10 at the corner of Union Ave- 
nue and Prince St. was laid on April 15, 1905, and such 
speedy progress was made in pushing forward the construc- 
tion of the building that it was ready for pupils in Novem- 
ber the same year. 

No. II, at Erie St. and Merritt Avenue which was put in- 
to service in February, 1908, is the latest numeral to be 
added to the list and is a worthy companion to its predeces- 
sors both in architectural design, and interior arrangement. 
The new building for No. 3 at Second Ave. and High St., 
which was opened the next year, September, 1909, is the 
last construction and is a credit to the city as a specimen of 
an up-to-date building. 

With the bringing of El Mora under the protection of 
our city charter in 1908 we have again come into charge of 
a small school which revives the Cedar Grove School of our 
earlier history. It is located on the corner of Magie Ave. 
and Springfield Road and has not yet been dignified with a 
numeral, but is still known under its old title as the Magie 
Ave. School. 

To provide still further accommodations, the Board has 
recently authorized the purchase of twelve portable school 
houses to be distributed so as to relieve the pressure on the 
primary schools. This has been so great that for some 
years past half-time classes have been found necessary. By 
this new device, which has been proved satisfactory in other 
cities, it is expected to be able to provide a full day's tuition 
to every child in the city desiring it. 
5 



64 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

The Battin High School. 

It was in the year 1887 that a forward step was taken 
which had long been hoped for but which seemed almost 
impossible of realization. Up to this date the larger school- 
houses had sheltered the primary, grammar and high-school 
grades of pupils and the studies and recitations of the three 
grades were carried on simultaneously. It had long been 
felt that better work could be done and the tone of the 
whole system materially elevated if all the scholars of the 
higher grade could be gathered into one central locality and 
thus be established as a High School instead of a number 
of detached high school classes. Accordingly when the 
long delayed time was at hand, the building at No. 52 
Broad St. was secured on rental and opened September 7, 
1887, at the beginning of the fall term with Miss Lucretia 
H. Sayre, Principal, Miss Susan C. Martin, Vice-Principal, 
with Miss Kate M. Warner, Miss Bertha C. Mackey and 
Mrs. Harriet S. Magie, teachers, as the faculty, a teaching 
corps of five ladies, all of whom had been heads of depart- 
ments in the different schools. 

Of course such a radical change created considerable 
comment especially among the families who were a long 
distance from this central location, but the wisdom of the 
movement speedily became manifest and all opposition soon 
passed away. Its success was fully assured March 27, 
1889, by the presentation to the city by Mr. Joseph Battin, 
of the magnificent mansion at the corner of South Broad 
and South Sts., for the purpose of a High School. It was 
dedicated as the Battin High School December 22, 1889, 
and still stands a useful monument to a generous citizen. 

It accommodates the students of the General Course, and 
those of the Scientific and Classical College Preparatory 
Courses. Probably no structure erected for a different pur- 
pose ever was built that could be more readily adapted to 
school work, but its disadvantages are so many and its ca- 
pacity so limited that plans are now under consideration for 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 65 

replacing it with a building that will provide accommoda- 
tions for all the classes, a portion of which now are gath- 
ered in The Annex, another dwelling metamorphosed into a 
school, at No. 419 South Broad St. and opened in Septem- 
ber, 1908. Here the Commercial Classes receive a four- 
year course in Business Correspondence, Stenography, 
Typewriting, Penmanship, Commercial Law, Political 
Economy and kindred subjects to fit them for active busi- 
ness life. When these plans shall have materialized the 
High School will be housed in one building especially con- 
structed for its use and adapted to its needs, with room 
for future growth and taking rank in size and architectural 
appearance with the other large public buildings which are 
the pride of our city. 

Evening Schools. 

In the matter of Evening Schools, the experience of the 
city has not been entirely satisfactory. At various time-f 
they have been established in response to an apparent pop 
ular demand and have started out with full promise of suc- 
cess only to dwindle away after a few weeks of more or 
less earnestness during the four months of the winter sea- 
son. The experiment would be continued for a few years 
and then would be allowed to lapse by general consent, to 
await resurrection after a term of years. At present a ser- 
ies has been going on since 1908 in the High School and 
in schools No. i and No. 3, with somewhat greater promise 
of success, the total enrollment being about 1500, quite one- 
half of which are people of foreign birth who have lately 
come to live in the city. The course of study comprises in 
addition to the elementary branches, mathematics, book- 
keeping, mechanical courses, and special classes in subjects 
called for by civil service examinations. The eagerness of 
our foreign speaking residents to avail themselves of these 
advantages, is very marked and bodes well for their future 
as desirable members of the body-politic. 



66 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

In the line of special work one teacher is employed even- 
ings in instructing a class of boys who have been committed 
by the courts to the charge of the county probation officer 
for longer or shorter terms. This class meets, in a room at 
the court house where the office of the probation officer is 
located and the instruction is designed to counteract the evil 
influences that have brought the scholar into the hands of 
the law. 

Resume. 

The resume of the present status of the school interests 
will be convincing of the fact that the city has not stood 
still as the years have passed by, but that it possesses a sys- 
tem which is up-to-date in methods, practical in operation, 
taught by competent instructors and administered by an 
executive body that has tried to do its full duty to the 
public in the discharge of the trust committed to it. 

The direct oversight of these schools is vested, naturally, 
in a superintendent, who keeps in touch with all depart- 
ments and is responsible for their proper working, good or- 
der and efficiency. To him are referred all ordinary ques- 
tions of operation and the numberless adjustments of the 
general scheme to the individual case, as well as the over- 
sight of the instruction given in the individual classroom. 
From this last he has been relieved to a considerable extent 
in recent years and the efficiency of the schools has been 
increased by relieving the principals and vice-principals 
from continuous duty as teachers of classes and vesting in 
them the supervision of the teaching in the various rooms 
of their departments, the principal assuming the oversight 
of the grammar grade and the vice-principal that of the 
primary. 

The physical equipment of the schools has been fully 
kept up to modern requirements by judicious expenditures. 
This has provided approved construction in recent build- 
ings, outside fire escapes and inside protection against fire 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS ^y 

which it is hoped will prevent catastrophe should a fire oc- 
cur, especially when supplemented with the fire-drills that 
are obligatory in every building. Sanitary drinking foun- 
tains have displaced the old-time common drinking cup, 
prism glass throws light into the hitherto dark corners ; 
new single desks have taken the place of the worn-out anti- 
quated furniture of former years, and improvement along 
all lines has been the order of the day. 

These general conditions as well as the supervision of 
the buildings and the purchase of supplies are, in the prov- 
ince of a business manager whose whole time and attention 
are given to the discharge of the duties of his office. 

For the past ten years the health of the scholars has been 
looked after by medical inspectors who make stated visits 
and examinations of the scholars in the various class-rooms 
and whose work is supplemented by that of two trained 
nurses in the employ of the Board, who give their whole 
time to following up the cases that need attention, and in- 
vestigating the home conditions that surround the pupil, 
with a view to preventing the spread of disease. In addition 
to this, a dental inspector is employed to care for the chil- 
dren's teeth. Beside the inspection, free clinics in dentistry 
and mouth-care are given from time to time at which the 
pupil's teeth are extracted, gratuitously if necessary, or for 
the trifling sum of one dime each ("three for a quarter"?) 
when the family exchequer, as well as the pupil's mouth can 
stand the pull. 

To further safeguard the health of the pupils a super- 
visor of physical instruction is employed, under whose care- 
ful eye a full system of calisthenic exercises is regularly 
carried out throughout the various classes, for the purpose 
of ensuring the most highly developed combination of the 
"mens sana in sano corpore." 

A supervisor of music devotes his time to the harmonic 
and melodic proclivities of the youth to such good effect 
that frequently the services of the older scholars are in re- 



68 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

quest to fill the chorus seats, in oratorios and similar musi- 
cal productions. 

Similarly a special instructor supervises and encourages 
the artistic instinct in the line of sketching and drawing, 
while the study of the German language lately introduced 
into the three upper grades of the grammar schools, still 
further enriches the curriculum and furnishes occupation 
for another special teacher. 

Under the general school law of the state, an attendance 
officer gives personal attention to absences from school, by 
investigating such cases and learning the causes. In this 
he is assisted by two officers detailed daily from the police 
force of the city^ to follow up cases of truancy, and if 
necessary to threaten and to enforce the terrors of the law 
to both pupil and parent. The result of this supervision 
has been to reduce to a minimum the unnecessary absences 
from school and to almost entirely break up the truancy 
habit. 

The Private Schools of the Period. 

During this later period with its rapid development of pub- 
lic schools, the private schools pursued the even tenor of their 
ways, affording plentiful opportunity for education to those 
so circumstanced as not to be able to avail themselves of 
the abundance provided by the city and state. Beside those 
that have already been mentioned, in previous pages there 
are others equally deserving of being embalmed in a perma- 
nent record. Without going into wearisome details refer- 
ence should be made to the Rev. Clarkson Dunn who had 
been installed as rector of Grace Episcopal Church and who 
opened a school for boys in his residence at the corner of 
First and Wall Streets in the spring of 1858. He had pre- 
viously lived in Newton, N. J., where he had conducted a 
successful school, and he proved equally prosperous here, 
continuing in service until his death, which occurred in 
187 1. A peculiarity of his school was the charge for tui- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 69 

tion, which was three cents per day ; and so exact and meth- 
odical was he that bills were rendered for the actual num- 
ber of days the pupil was in attendance during the quarter. 

About this time Rev. Mr. Ellis, another Episcopal clerg)^- 
man, who came hither from the West Indies, at the sugges- 
tion of friends opened a classical school for both sexes, on 
William Street, but the institution appears never to have 
been a pronounced success. 

On the other hand a Mrs. O'Connor, a widow, and the 
daughter of a teacher, achieved distinction and presumably 
gained pelf by conceiving and putting into successful oper- 
ation for a number of years a 'Vacation school." It was de- 
signed to keep children out of the streets during the period 
when other schools were closed and to afford light instruc- 
tion during the summer months. The idea took well among 
the neighbors and '*it was surprising what a large school 
she had, during vacation" at her rooms on South Park 
Street, near Jackson Park. 

We can recall also the names of Misses Mary and Sarah 
Arms, sisters, who kept a school in a house on Broad 
street, opposite the First Church Lecture Room, and also 
that of Mrs. A. S. Gunn, who for a period of fifteen or six- 
teen years from 1867 taught her classes of girls at No. 20 
Catherine St. at first, and afterward in other quarters in 
Prospect St. 

In 1854 Mr. John Young, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, 
and a graduate of the University of the City of New York, 
removed to this city and opened an English and Classical 
School for boys in Williamson Street. So successful was 
he in this venture that he removed to more favorable quar- 
ters near the center of the town, to the house now occupied 
by the public library. In i860 he purchased property at 
the corner of West Jersey and Chilton Streets upon which 
he erected his dwelling house and school room, in which he 
faithfully prosecuted his work until his death which oc- 
curred on Easter Day, April 15, 1906. He has left his mark 
as an educator not only upon our city but on foreign lands 



70 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

as well, for the school, while drawing largely on the vicinity 
for pupils was, in such high favor among well-to-do fami- 
lies in Mexico, Central America and the West Indies that 
the times were rare, indeed when there were no representa- 
tives of these lands upon the roll of members. 

Besides his private school work his interest in general 
education sent him for a long term of years to represent 
the ward in which he lived in the Board of Education of 
the city, during which time he also served as superintendent 
of schools, from 1865 to 1874. His long term of active 
service, extending over more than half a century, entitles 
him to special mention among those conspicuous names that 
shine brightly on our city's roll of honor. 

At No. 284 North Broad Street in one of the houses of 
the block that has recently been remodeled, into the new 
Isham building, the Misses Sargeant conducted a school for 
young girls for a number of years with marked success. 
The limited number of pupils in each department assured 
particular attention to the needs of each scholar and the 
school stood high in public favor until about 1890 when it 
was discontinued. 

Nor should we omit a school for Misses and young ladies 
which was conducted for many years on Elizabeth Avenue, 
near Catherine Street, by Miss Lizzie Ogden and her sister, 
Lucille. There were really two schools. Miss Lucille taking 
charge of the younger scholars, and after the primary years 
of instruction, passing them along to "Miss Lizzie" as all 
her scholars loved to call her, for the finishing touches in 
the higher branches. For this she was most specially quali- 
fied, particularly in the French language, which she spoke 
with an exceptionally pure accent, no doubt influenced to 
some extent by her French ancestry, which was of the Des- 
sauge family. Aside from their memory as most capable 
and successful instructors there are the most pleasant rec- 
ollections all about the neighborhood in which they were 
located, of their benevolent and friendly services in co-op- 
eration with three other sisters which made the quintette 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 71 

veritable home missionaries to many a dark spot in the 
town, and lightened many a burdened heart. 

In September, 1869, Miss Julia Lawrence Hayward es- 
tablished a school for girls on Jefferson Ave., near Jeffer- 
son Park, and continued it for nearly eight years in that lo- 
cation. 

In 1870 a similar school was opened at No. 279 North 
Broad Street by the Misses Clarkson and Bush, which had 
a successful career and continued under their management 
for about the same period of time, when Miss Hayward 
merged the two schools at the last named address in April, 
1877. In this combined form they continued under her 
management until June, 1886, when the school passed to 
the control of Miss Laura A. Vail, who had associated with 
herself Miss Frances Deane, and it was announced to the 
public as The Vail-Deane School, a name which continues 
to this day. 

The Union School for girls and young ladies came into 
existence in 1861 under the direction of a Board of Trus- 
tees of whom Mrs. Richard T. Haines and Mrs. David H. 
Pierson were the leading spirits. The principals in succes- 
sion were Mrs. Case, Miss Josephine K. Little and Miss 
Nettie C. Read. In 1870 the control passed entirely to Miss 
Read who was the daughter of a leading minister of the 
Presbyterian Church and its name was changed to that of 
The Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies, at No. 521 
North Broad St. She associated with herself Miss Susan 
H. Higgins, who had been employed for some little time in 
the public schools, and under their joint management it 
flourished and prospered. Later Miss Read's decease, left 
Miss Higgins in sole control. She maintained its high rep- 
utation until 1892, when she retired from the profession to 
become the wife of Rev. John F. Pingry, D. D., who was 
conducting at the time the famous boys school which he 
had maintained for so many years. She transferred it to 
Mrs. Christine B. Knapp, who merged with it a similar 
school which she had established in 1883 at No. 350 Grier 



72 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

Avenue, and continued business at the old stand in North 
Broad St. until 1901, when she in turn withdrew from the 
teacher's calling and the school was merged with The Vail- 
Deane School which was in full operation further down the 
street at No. 279. 

From this date onward to the present time the Vail- 
Deane School, the compressed resultant of these repeated 
consolidations has pursued its course with increasing pa- 
tronage and influence. Its courses of study are thorough ; 
its graduates are accepted for admission in the higher wo- 
men's colleges and its fame has spread far beyond the con- 
fines of our state. 

The Parochial Schools. 

This little work would be incomplete were we to omit 
mention of the various schools of the churches that have 
been established from time to time, some of which faded 
away after a more or less precarious tenure of life, but 
some of which endure to this day, in the height of a vigor- 
ous existence. From earliest days there have been strong 
adherents to the principle that secular instruction without 
simultaneous religious influences is fraught with peril not 
only to the youth but to the whole fabric of the community 
as well, and that to the church should be entrusted the edu- 
cation of the young. In pursuance of this theory parochial 
schools have been established, principally in connection 
with the parishes of the Roman Catholic churches. They 
are under the direct supervision of the reverend priest as- 
signed to the parish, the general management being under 
his direction, while the instruction of classes in most cases 
is given by the sisters of charity who devote themselves to 
this and other helpful work. 

The first of these special schools was established in the 
year 1856, the year following the incorporation of the city 
by Rev. Isaac P. Howell in connection with St. Mary's R. 
C. Church on Washington Ave., near South St., and still 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 73 

continues its service after a lapse of more than fifty years, 
under the care of the rector, the Rev. Francis O'Neill. 

Five years later (1861) St. Patrick's parochial school 
was begun in the church building that had been erected on 
Court Street just above Second, but in 1863 it entered a 
two-story brick structure about thirty by sixty feet in di- 
mension, which was erected for its special accommodation. 
This in turn has given way to the commodious three-story 
building which now houses the primary and grammar de- 
partments, and which, with the adjacent high-school build- 
ing of later years (erected in 1907) forms the educational 
contingent of the magnificent group of parish buildings, 
that flanks Jackson Park on the northeast, a constant re- 
minder of the enterprise and force of the Very Rev. Mar- 
tin Gessner, the pastor. 

St. Michael's parish school was also begun in 185 1, in a 
one-story structure on Smith Street near Elizabeth Ave. 
and is now occupying improved and enlarged quarters just 
a little further to the north at the corner of East Jersey St. 

Next in order of time was that of the Church of the Sa- 
cred Heart, established in 1868 in the old convent building 
at the corner of Spring and Bond Streets. These four 
schools seem to have supplied the needs of the city in this 
particular line for nearly a score of years until the new 
parish of the Church of the Holy Rosary was set apart and 
established on First Avenue between Fifth and Sixth 
Streets in 1887. A large and flourishing school has always 
been a part of the activities of the church, its location near 
the center of the city, in a thickly populated territory en- 
suring a large attendance upon its privileges. 

Lastly and more recently the parish of St. Adelbert has 
come into being, purchasing the land on Third Street be- 
tween Fulton and East Jersey Streets, for so many years 
the site of the first Public School, No. i, in the earlier years 
of our municipal life. Upon this plot of ground has been 
erected a handsome church building and a school house, 
attractive in architectural design, and fitted with all the 



74 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

modern and up-to-date hygienic and sanitary appliances. 
This school-house has just been completed and put into use 
and bids fair to attract a large attendance from among the 
children of our Polish residents who compose the congre- 
gation of the church. The organization of the school dates 
in 1909. 

General Review. 

In the Centennial Year of our country's history special 
pains were taken to secure a full and complete exhibit of 
the educational interests of the State, and from these we 
can accurately judge of the condition of affairs in our city, 
at that time, twenty-one years after incorporation. From 
the reports and exhibits filed with the State Superintendent, 
placed on exhibition at Philadelphia and preserved for a time 
in the capitol at Trenton, we find that at the close of the cal- 
endar year 1875 there were six separate school buildings, 
three of which were of small capacity with a seating accom- 
modation of 2647. The total enrollment during the year was 
3676 — on the roll at the end of the year 2259 — average daily 
attendance, 1905, taught by 48 teachers, in 6 primary, 4 gram- 
mar and 3 high school grades covering 13 years of study 
and giving the benefits of a thorough English education to 
all who cared to avail themselves of the opportunity. Even- 
ing schools, in which only the elementary branches and 
book-keeping were taught, had been maintained during the 
winter, with an average attendance of 182 instructed by 8 
teachers. The school census showed 7145 children of school 
age in the city, and the expenditure of money for all pur- 
poses of the school system was $42,552.68. 

For purposes of comparison and especially as evidencing 
the enlarged population it will be interesting to scan the 
last report of the Board of Education, for the year ending 
June 30, 191 1, after the lapse of a third of a century. It 
shows 14 buildings, all but one of which are of large size, 
with a seating capacity of 8202. The total enrollment dur- 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 75 

ing the year was 9200 — on roll at the end of the year 7912 
— average daily attendance 7514 taught by 223 teachers in 
the various grades. Evening schools had been open during 
the winter months. As the taking of the school census by 
the city authorities was discontinued in 1900, it is impossi- 
ble to make a comparison of the number of children of 
school age in the city. The total expenditure for ordinary 
school purposes was $236,408.21 and this, as in the other 
instance, did not include any amount for new buildings. 

At the close of this volume there will be found statistical 
tables showing the growth of our public schools from their 
earliest years. These figures have been compiled from the 
records of our own Board of Education and from those of 
the State Board of Education in the capitol building at 
Trenton. Close scrutiny of these statistics might reveal 
a few discrepancies which it would be hard to explain, 
and the author makes no attempt to reconcile them at this 
late date, content in the assurance that they are but of min- 
or importance, and absolving himself from all blame in the 
matter by saying that *'he found them in the book." 

From this view-point the march of progress has been a 
r^pid one especially in recent years. As the advantages of 
our city for suburban residence have become more widely 
known, as our manufactureing interests have had such ex- 
tended development, as our inter-communication with the 
great metropolis has so marvellously improved, a steady 
increase of population has called for enlarged school ac- 
commodation, and year by year new halls of learning have 
been provided to meet the increased demand. This demand 
has always crowded on the heels of provision, and has 
necessitated at times the ''long look ahead" so needful in 
forecasting future wants. To the credit of all who have 
managed these interests in the years over which we look, 
be it said that they have always been alive to the needs of 
our city and ready, so far as lay in their power, to meet 
those needs. 

Today, the earnest hope of Governor Pennington and his 



76 ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 

associates in 1840 that our Public Schools "shall be so ele- 
vated in their condition, that the richest, as well as the poor- 
est man in the community shall be proud to send his chil- 
dren to them" is no longer a dream. It has its place in the 
realms of fact. 

The Old School House at Lyons Farms. 

Mention has been made in previous pages, of the school- 
house at Lyons Farms, which, although not within our city 
limits and therefore not strictly within the purview of this 
history is yet so nearly related to it in a neighborly way as 
to warrant including in these annals. 

The structure is still standing at the juncture of Pros- 
pect Avenue and Newark Ave., in Lyons Farms, although 
its use was discontinued a number of years ago when a 
fine modern building was erected to take its place. May 
it long remain as a mute reminder of the early days ! 

It was built in 1784, of stone brought from the quarries 
near Irvington, and tradition asserts that it followed a 
frame building that had been used for the same purpose for 
some fifty years and had been destroyed by fire. Mr. Jos. 
Lyon taught there until 1796, probably beginning his labors 
a few years before the wooden building burned. He was 
a resident of Lyons Farms and a graduate of Princeton 
College. Before him was a Mr. Bellamy who taught a long 
time, presumably dating his term of service before the out- 
break of the Revolution. 

Mr. James Ross succeeded Mr. Lyon and he in turn was 
followed in 1801 when he went to teach in the North End 
schoolhouse by Mr. Murray, in 1804 by Mr. Crocker, and 
in 1806 by Mr. Ward Foster, the latter proving so efficient 
and satisfactory that he continued for many years to fill his 
honored position. Mr. Geo. Foote, brother of Fred'k W. 
Foote taught a year or two about 1838. 

Mr. Ross who deserves special mention for his thirty 
years pursuance of this vocation, was born in the north of 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS yy 

Ireland, and came to this country the year before taking up 
his work at Lyons Farms. He later devoted himself to 
mercantile pursuits. 

It has been published upon the authority of a retired cler- 
gyman residing in the county that the celebrated English 
author, Thackeray, on one occasion while on a visit to this 
country honored the locality and the old stone house by 
delivering a lecture within its venerable walls. This may 
have been *The English Humorists," in 1852 or possibly 
"The Four Georges" which he brought out on his second 
trip to America in 1855. 



78 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

Township. 

For the nine years prior to the incorporation of the city, 
March 13, 1855. 





Districts. 




No. 


of Teachers. 


No. of Chil- 
dren. 




a 


















^ 














^J 


TEAR. 





bi) 














Si 

60 

3 






•_2 






c 




s: 


S^ 













1 


5 






Eh 

6 






tf 




S 


^ 


H 





Z 


1846 


5 




5 








1066 


725 


1847 


6 
6 




6 








1139 
1235 


.371 


1848 








428 


1849 


6 
6 
5 
5 
4 
5 




6 

t 

5 
4 
5 








1303 
1365 
1628 
1827 
1922 
2221 


531 


1850 








597 


1851 








875 


1852 


3 

4 
4 


13 
13 
12 


16 
17 
16 


1078 


1853 


649 


1854 


806 

















ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



79 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

Township. 

For the nine years prior to the incorporation of the city, 
March 13, 1855. 



YEAR. 


Amount re- 
ceived from 
Township 
Collector. 


Amount raised 
by tax for 
support of 
schools. 


Amount re- 
ceived from 
the State 
fund. 


Amount appro- 
priated for 
new build- 
ings, repairs, 
etc. 


Amount appro- 
priated or re- 
ceived for all 
purposes. 


ess 

< 


1846 


$226 46 

680 91 

680 91 

2,209 14 












1847 










$200 97 
211 97 


1848 










1849 












1850 








$2,282 65 
3,434 04 
2,973 32 
3,753 46 
5,124 74 


1,041 3e 
1,362 49 


1851 










1852 




$2,000 00 
2,750 00 
3,000 00 


$973 32 
1,003 46 
1,124 74 






1853 








1854 




$1,000 00 













8o 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For the first decade after its incorporation, March 13, 1855. 

Attendance, etc. 






. 


Teachers. 


Scholars. 




■4-> 


YEAR. 




d 

1 




< 




!i 




e 

bo 


< 


1 

5a 

¥ 


1855 




4 

5 
6 
5 
4 
3 
2 
2 

2 
2 
2 
2 

2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
3 
2 
3 


13 
14 
14 
15 
19 
21 
20 
19 
19 
20 
20 
22 
23 
22 
24 
24 
25 
31 
35 
40 


17 

19 

20 
20 
23 
24 
22 
21 
21 
22 
22 
24 
25 
24 
26 
26 
27 
34 
37 
43 


1850 
2381 
2693 
2540 
2849 
3016 
2944 
2944 
2944 
2965 
2965 
1537 
4098 
4006 
4167 
4197 
5564 
6212 
6389 
6928 


735 

1035 
1652 
1696 
1651 
1630 
1768 
1503 
1591 
954 
954 
1543 

■■"igio 

2017 
2106 
2258 
2556 
2530 
3015 






1856 








1857 




724 
756 
933 
881 
956 
847 
835 
418 




1858 






1859 






1860 


6 
3 

? 

2 
2 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
4 
5 
5 




1861 . .. 




1862 




1863 . 




1864 




1865 




1866 






1867 . 


890 
970 
1039 
1074 
1706 
1349 
1437 
1557 




1868 




1869 




1870 




1871 


1470 


1872 


1500 


1873 


2100 


1874 


2210 







ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



8i 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For the first decade after its incorporation, March 13, 1855. 

Financial. 



YEAR. 


< 


6 

£* 

< 


Amount appro- 
priated for 
new build- 
ings, repairs, 
etc. 


22 

CD. 
CO. 


ft 


% 

> 


1855 


$6,000 00 

3,500 00 

10,000 00 

10,500 00 

5,744 00 

9,790 00 

9,000 00 

9,000 00 

9,592 09 

14,500 00 

14,500 00 


$1,131 98 
1,100 00 
598 31 
1,224 00 
1,246 86 
1,278 38 
1,092 96 
1,178 44 
1,407 91 
1,407 91 
1,407 91 


$8,000 00 
5,000 00 


$15,131 98 
9,600 00 
10,598 31 
21,724 00 
12,746 86 
12,778 48 
10,092 96 
10,178 44 
11,000 00 
15,907 91 
15,907 91 
16,000 00 
17,000 00 
19,777 73 
19,666 60 
20,703 03 
32,700 00 
30,000 00 
32,000 00 
47.000 00 




1856 




1857 




1858 


10,000 00 
5,756 00 




1859 




1860 .. .. 


(*$1,710 10) 


1861 






1862 






1863 






1864 






1865 






1866 






1867 










1868 


18,666 66 

18,000,00 

19,000 00 

13,493 88 

3,560 49 

3,058 14 

7,433 29 


i,777 73 
1,666 60 
1,703 03 
19,206 12 
26,439 51 
28,941 86 
29,566 71 




40,000 00 


1869 


4,750 00 
4,700 00 


50,000 00 


1870 


50,000 00 


1871 


50,000 00 


1872 


3,000 00 


70,000 00 


1873 


90,000 00 


1874 


16,666 66 


90,000 00 



♦Received from other sources. 



B2 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For 15 years, 1875- 1889, inclusive. 

Attendance, etc. 





1 . 



Ow 


Teachers. 


Scholars. 


>> 


YEAR. 




S 




i 


< 




^^ 





a 

^ (JO 


<6 

ll 

n 

< 


1 

si 

^« 


1875 


5 
6 
6 
6 
6 
6 
5 
5 
5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
5 
8 


3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
4 
4 
4 
4 


42 
46 
46 
44 
46 
47 
48 
48 
49 
50 
51 
57 
58 
60 
65 


45 
49 
49 
47 
49 
50 
51 
51 
52 
53 
54 
61 
62 
64 
69 


7145 
6817 
6984 
7124 
7180 
7710 
8625 
7856 
8359 
8339 
8389 
8697 
8864 
9051 
9174 


3212 
3858 
3293 
3406 
3135 
3426 
3311 
3501 
3449 
3498 
3617 
3730 
3803 
3918 
4042 


1756 
1953 
2033 
2118 
2084 
2241 
2093 
2156 
2233 
2377 
2489 
2646 
2691 
2664 
2870 


2200 


1876 


2300 


1877 


2300 


1878 


2300 


1879 


2500 


1880 


2550 


1881 


2565 


1882 


2569 


1883 


2566 


1884 


2560 


1885 


2549 


1886 


2602 


1887 


2595 


1888 


2902 


1889 


3040 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



83 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For 15 years, 1875- 1889, inclusive. 

Financial. 



YEAR. 


V 

m 

S-t 

¥ 
< 


a 

< 


Amount appro- 
priated for 
new build- 
ings, repairs, 
etc. 


1= 

p. 

00. 





X! 

OS 


1875 


$12,171 07 

9,923 38 

12,497 97 

10,968 94 

14,971 48 

14,711 94 

9,395 70 

8,213 09 

26,546 81 

10,700 00 

14,000 00 

16,000 00 

16,000 00 

16,000 00 

20,000 00 


$30,828 93 
30,076 62 
27,702 03 
26,681 06 
25,371 87 
24,229 35 
33,743 77 
35,805 68 
34,033 87 
35.186 08 
35,608 56 
35,576 08 
36,173 52 
42,249 04 
48,762 67 


$12,171 07 

8,000 00 

8,900 00 

7,950 00 

11,658 92 

11,141 29 

9,395 70 

8,213 09 

26,075 00 

10,700 00 

14,400 00 

16.000 00 

16,000 00 

16,000 00 

20,000 00 


$43,000 00 

40,000 00 
40,200 00 
37,650 00 
40,343 35 
38,941 29 
43,139 47 
44,018 77 
60,580 68 
45,886 08 
49,608 56 
51,576 08 
52,173 52 
58,249 04 
68,762 67 


$100,000 00 


1876 


106,500 00 


1877 


110,000 00 


1878 


100,000 00 


1879 


100,000 00 


1880 


69,000 00 


1881 


80,000 00 


1882 


80,000 00 


1883 


69,000 00 


1884 . . . 


69,000 00 


1885 


80,000 00 


1886 


112,000 00 


1887 


111,600 00 


1888 


112,000 00 


1889 


191,000 90 



84 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For the 21 years, 1890-1910, inclusive. 

Attendance. 






• 

if 


Teachers. 


Scholars. 


>> 




1^ 


S 

1 





03 
. 




Day Schools. 





YEAR. 


u 

11 


Si 


1» 


1890 


8 

8 

8 

11 

9 

9 

9 

9 

9 

9 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

11 

11 

14 

14 

14 


4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
6 

10 
12 

l5 
fi 

11 
12 
18 
17 
17 
18 
18 


73 

79 

82 

85 

88 

93 

92 

102 

106 

117 

134 

129 

133 

142 

144 

151 

152 

155 

170 

175 

186 


77 

83 

86 

89 

92 

97 

98 

109 

116 

129 

146 

139 

148 

153 

155 

163 

170 

172 

187 

193 

204 


9283 
9784 
10058 
10058 
10586 
10586 
11120 
11697 
11819 
12212 
12169 


4420 
4756 
4865 
5233 
5756 
5510 
5484 
6270 
6270 
6948 
6813 
7330 
7297 
7968 
7133 
7835 
8037 
8119 
8232 
8855 
8828 


3074 
3389 
3467 
3682 
3959 
3993 
4202 
4689 
4774 
4778 
5129 
5379 
5313 
5372 
5626 
5929 
5867 
5975 
6418 
6449 
6848 


3346 


1891 


3640 


1892 


3630 


1893 


3827 


1894 


4352 


1895 


4309 


1896 


4282 


1897 


5239 


1898 


5489 


1899 


5923 


1900 


6070 


1901 


6773 


1902 


7773 


1903 


7183 


1904 


7412 


1905 


7400 


1906 


7865 


1907 


7865 


1908 


7591 


1909 


7778 


1910 


8126 



No census taken since 1900. 



ELlZABETH^S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



B5 



STATISTICAL REPORTS. 

City. 

For the 21 years, 1890 1910, inclusive. 

Financial. 



TEAR. 


^1 
111 


Expended for 
new build- 
ings and re- 
pairs. 


III 


Value of 
school prop- 
erty. 


1890 


$48,334 10 

50,916 35 

52,908 32 

53,822 92 

57,811 55 

59,175 56 

60,682 25 

65,695 50 

70,793 63 

77,191 76 

81,372 72 

91,313 16 

93,870 46 

95,876 50 

101,897 41 

104,809 30 

109,072 07 

112,895 77 

123,811 16 

140,981 60 

148,434 01 


$37,659 38 

9,131 40 

5,715 94 

13,870 13 

37,581 55 

3,204 85 

44,628 41 

37,676 91 

3,940 22 

3,758 97 

48,185 77 

5,636 08 

7,373 09 

30,867 05 

8,296 81 

18,504 83 

40,788 94 

17,443 64 

58,476 07 

96.503 21 

28,798 79 


$102,909 16 

76,016 07 

78,708 33 

85,705 77 

114,957 78 

83,895 16 

125,107 26 

121,176 36 

125,383 67 

134,537 19 

159,874 47 

132,042 02 

133,807 40 

164,008 02 

139,794 12 

155,112 98 

187,329 89 

168,589 03 

233,014 00 

♦295,277 49 

•253,410 04 


$218,000 00 


1891 


218,000 00 


1892 


218,000 00 


1893 . .. , . 


218,000 00 


1894 


240,400 00 


1895 


230 000 00 


1896 ., 


255,000 00 


1897 


302,000 00 


1898 


302,000 00 


1899 


347,000 00 


1900 


347,000 00 


1901 


392,000 00 


1902 


392,000 00 


1903 


427,000 00 


1904 


427,000 00 


1905 


427 000 00 


1906 


473,000 00 


1907 


473,000 00 


1908 


521,000 00 


1909 


619,000 00 


1910 


619 000 00 



♦Includes about $10,000 expended for night schools. 



INDEX 



Page. 
A 

Abbott, Dr. C 23 

Ackley, J. A 33 

Allen, Edward 20 

Alward, Joseph 5 

Arms, Mary 69 

Arms, Sarah 69 

Atwater, Edward S 5 

Atwood, N. Savings 37 

B 

Baldwin, Harriet E 57 

Baldwin, Jeannette S 58 

Barber, Francis 15 

Barnet, William 14 

Barry, Edward D 18 

Barton, Miss P. W 23 

Barton, Miss M. M 23, 34 

Barton, W. S 35 

Battin, Joseph 64 

Belcher, Gov'r 12, 13 

Belden, Rev. William C 19, 26 

Bell, Rev. Andrew 45 

Bellamy, Mr 76 

Blackman, S. C 17 

Borroughs, Wm. H 32, 33 

Bradbury, Rev. E 37 

87 



Page. 

Brewster, Mr 48 

Brown, Mrs. Bowring 28 

Bryant, John J 33 

Burling, Miss E 32 

Burr, Rev. Aaron 12 

Burr, Aaron 13 

Burr, George W 58 

Bush, Miss 71 

Butler, Francis 36 

C 

Capron, Madame 25 

Carteret, Gov 10 

Case, Mrs 71 

Catlin, Marcus 32 

Chandler, John 38 

Chandler, Henry W 41 

Chase, Mrs 56, 57 

Chatterton, John 52 

Clark, Chas. G 56 

Clarkson, Miss 71 

Clement, Richard E 5 

Cleveland, Joseph 37 

Cleveland, Ezra 49 

Cleveland, Rachel 58 

Cone, Mr 57 

Cooley, John 58 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



Page. 

Cook, John 20 

Corey, J. Harvey 58 

Craig, Mr 56 

Crane, Thomas 32, 35 

Crane, Job 35 

Crane, Isaac 39 

Crane, Job S 58 

Crittenden, Miss S 29 

Crocker, Mr 76 

D 

Darby, Elias 49, 52, 58 

Darby, Ezra 42 

Daun, Mr 28 

Davis, Sarah B 37 

Davis, Charles 52 

Day, William F 5, 52, 53 

Day, Thomas S 52 

Dayton, Elias B 16 

Dayton, Matthias O 22, 30 

Dayton, Jane L 43 

Dean, Mr 56 

Deane, Frances 71 

DeHensch, Mr 17, 25 

Dickenson, Rev. Jonathan 11 

Dix, J. Augustus 5 

Dix, Warren R 5 

Dows, Mary 44 

Drake, James S 36 

Duport, A 27 

Dunn, Rev. Clarkson 68 

E 

Edwards, Timothy 13 

Ellis, Rev. Mr 69 



Page. 
Elizabeth Institute for Young 
Ladies 71 

F 

Fairfield, Mr 30 

Fay, Julius A 36 

Fellenburgh Hall 33 

Felters, Henry J 17 

Fletcher, Rev. Seth 10 

Foote, Frederick W — 35,41,42 

Foote, George 76 

Foster, Ward 76 

French, Miles 41 

G 

Gale, Nancy A 34 

Garthwaite, Edwin 24 

Gessner, Rev. Martin TZ 

Gorham, Julia 27 

Grummon, Mr 41 

Gunn, Mrs. A. S 69 

H 

Haight, N. W 57 

Haines, Mr 41 

Haines, Philetus E 20,21 

Haines, Mrs. Richard T 71 

Hall, Miss 28 

Hall, George 23, zz 

Halsey, Luther 16 

Halsey, Rev. Jno. T 35 

Halsey, Meline W 52 

Harriman, Rev. John 10 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



89 



Page. 

Harrison, Elizabeth W 34 

Hayward, Julia S 71 

Henry, Mrs 26 

Higgins, Susan H 71 

Holly, Mr 40 

Howell, Rev. Isaac P 72 

Hoyt, Mrs Z7 

Hunt, Mary 28 

Hunter, Mr 56 

Hustlers, Mr 29 

Hutchinson, Amelia E 57 

Hutchinson, E. S 57 

J 

Johnson, Catharine H 58 

K 

Kellogg, Elijah ZZ 

Kellogg, J. W Z(i 

Kellogg, Edward 56 

Kingsley, A. W 58 

Kinne, George 41 

Knapp, Mrs. Christine B 71 

Kollock, Shepard 32, 42 

L 

Lancaster, Joseph 45 

Lawrence, Jonathan B 16 

LeBreton, Mrs 26 

Lilly, Rev. Samuel 18 

Little, Joseph K 71 

Luster, Caleb J 22,40,41 

Luster, Caroline D 42 



Page. 

Lyon, Capt. David 40 

Lyon, Joseph 76 

M 

McCollum, A. B yj 

McDowell, Rev. John... 19, 33, 49 

McGregor, Mrs 26 

Mackey, Bertha C 64 

Magie, William J 5 

Magie, Rev. David 31, 33, 52 

Magie, Harriet S 64 

Manual Labor Academy 32 

Marsh, Sophronia 56 

Martin, Susan C 64 

Mather, Increase 10 

Massie, Peter 52 

Melyen, Rev. Samuel 11 

Mervin, Mrs 26 

Mills, Henry 18 

Moore, Mr 40 

Morris Ave. Primary School 

Assn 61 

Morton, Elihu 36 

Mulford, Susan P 53 

Murdock, Patrick 16 

Murray, Rev. Nicholas.12, 31, 45, 52 
Murray, Mr 76 

N 

Naar, David 55 

Nason, Samuel 23 

Nesbit, Joseph 40 

Noble, Rev. B. G.... 30 

Noe, Mrs 33 



90 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



Page. 

Noll, A. B 35 

Northrop, B. G 42 

Nuttman, James G 34 

Nuttman, Oliver 44 

O 

Ogden, Joseph 14 

Ogden, Col. Aaron 27 

Ogden, Ichabod 35 

Ogden, Benjamin 58 

Ogden, Lizzie 70 

Ogden, Lucille 70 

O'Connor, Mrs 69 

O'Neill, Rev. Francis 73 

P 

Parker, Jerusha 42 

Peck, Rev. Jeremiah 10 

Pemberton, Ebenezer 13, 14 

Pennington, Gov 75 

Periam, Joseph 14, 30, 39 

Pierson, Rev. David H 31 

Pierson, Mrs. D. H 71 

Pingry, Rev. John F yj 

Pingry School (The) Z'] 

Price, Mary 26 

Price, Eliphalet 26 

Price, David 29 

Price, Edward 30 

Price, Parraela 44 

Proctor, Mr 56 

Pruden, Keen 49 

Purviance, Anna 28 

Pyne, Rev. Smith 30 



Page. 
R 

Ranken, Miss 26 

Ranney, Nancy D 28 

Read, Nettie C y\ 

Reeve, Tapping 13, 14 

Rogers, Mr 41 

Rogers, Augustus 56 

Rolston, John H 55 

Ropes, Jonathan M 58 

Ross, James 19, 39, 41, 76 

Ross, David 40 

Rudd, Rev. John C 19, 29, 30 

Rudd, Charles 26 

S 

Salter, J. W 30 

Saltonstall, Joseph L 17 

Sanderson's Hotel 28 

Sanderson, Edward 44,49 

Sargeant, The Misses 70 

Sayre, Lucretia H 64 

Shearer, William J 5 

Sherman, Mr 17 

Sherwood, Charles 58 

Shutes, Mayor 31 

Smith, Elias D 5 

Smith, Caleb 12 

Smith, William P 14 

Smith, Moses 20 

Smith, Samuel 22, 28 

Smith, J. Sanford 40, 52 

Smith, Maud S 43 

Spalding, Clarissa D 27, 28 

Spinning, Benjamin 14 

Squier, Caleb 5 



ELIZABETH'S SCHOOL INTERESTS 



91 



Page. 

Stearns, Josiah Q 5, 54, 55 

Stevenson, James 17, 25 

Stewart, Morgan 41 

Stewart, Richard 55 

Stickney, Thomas 39 

Stiles, Abner 22 

Stiles, Susan M 53 

T 

Tapray, Madame 25 

Taylor, John 16 

Tenney, William J 5, 58 

Thackeray, William Tj 

Thomas, William 57 

Townley, Jonathan 37 

U 

Union School 71 

Usquehart, John 10 



Page. 
V 

Vail, Laura A 71 

Vail-Deane School 7i, 72 

Van Doren, John L 21, 22 

W 

Wade, Nehemiah 14 

Warner, Kate M 64 

Webb, Elizabeth 57 

Whitehead, William M . , 5, 54, 55 

Williams, Anne 24 

Williams, Ellen 58 

Woodruff, Hetty 2>^ 

Woodruff, Mary E 57, 58 

Wyckoff, Rev. Joseph 31 

Wyman, John 60 

Y 

Young, John 5, 69 

Young, David 17, 41 



